You are Marcus Fowler. Demonologist, merchant, heretic. With the immediate threat to Rathburg from the merfolk resolved, you're now able to focus on uncovering more information on the cabal that was ultimately behind the crisis. Two merfolk of the Jorran Maw tribe, Atoreshk and his daughter Deshka, have brought you to Kelmond Island, where they have been keeping the cabalist Julia since you turned her over to them yesterday. She is currently asleep in a makeshift camp on the beach where you landed, and Atoreshk has briefly departed to conduct the actual summoning of the two demons you'll be using in the interrogation.

You're waiting on the beach with Deshka when a strange calm washes over you and your entire body relaxes slightly. Part of you wonders what could have caused the sensation of tranquility, but another part of you just wants to take that feeling and wrap it around your body like a blanket. And far beneath both of those fractions of your mind, another piece stirs slightly, one that has been tightly wound around your spine for half your life now. Strengthened by the new feeling of peace, a realization that until now had only lingered at the surface of your mind finally starts to seep down into your core, sliding into the space between self and guilt and slowly prying them apart.

You shouldn't blame yourself for that. Don't blame yourself for something that was done to the two of you, not by either of you. What happened was not your fault.

"Marcus?"

You turn to look over at Deshka, who is looking at you with an expression that is equal parts confused and concerned.

"That water coming from your eyes," she says, pointing to your face. "That's something humans do when they're sad, right? Is something wrong?"

A few seconds later, Atoreshk returns, riding a wave up on to the beach near the two of you. Two other figures emerge from the sea behind him. One you easily recognize as Telemok, whose symbols you gave to Atoreshk before he departed. The second is much smaller than the pale demon, and looks like a turtle walking upright. You stand to greet the two demons.

"Marcus," Atoreshk says, gesturing to the unfamiliar new arrival, "this is Yventa, third circle of peace."

The demon bows its reptilian head to you, and though its beak-like mouth is too rigid to smile, you can see a look of welcome and happiness in its eyes. "A pleasure to meet you, Marcus," it says in a soft, soothing voice that sounds like a gentle breeze on a warm summer's day.

You bow in return. "And you, Yventa. I take it that this feeling of tranquility is your work? Atoreshk mentioned that was one of your talents."

Yventa nods slowly. "Yes." Then she pauses, cocks her head to the side, and looks up at the sky in thought. "At least, people tell me that it is. To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure." She shrugs, and her gaze returns to you. "Mortals have said that they find my presence soothing, though I obviously have little experience with what mortals are like when I am not there to witness it."

You then turn toward Telemok and likewise bow to the larger demon. "And greetings to you, Telemok."

How would you like to proceed with the questioning.> Try to ease Julia into questions about the cabal. Start with things that are more innocent like where she's from, then guide the conversation to how she became a demonologist, and only then bring up the cabal.> Focus on just getting the information out of Julia. Who the masters of the cabal are, what they are planning, how they managed to steal so much Hell-forged silver, and the like.> Let Atoreshk handle the interrogation for now. You can just observe.> Write in.

Also> Have Telemok give Julia a compulsion to cooperate with you.> Don't yet, you'd rather not have her snap back after the six day limit if you can get your answers through conventional means.

In Demonologist Quest, players will sometimes be prompted to roll dice when performing certain actions. The base amount of dice is five d10s and the number of rolls that meet or exceed the DC determines the outcome.

Players can have allied assistance with a roll, in which case they roll a number of additional d10s determined by the skill of the ally.

If the result is a minor or major failure, players can choose to add a bonus to a roll through bargaining. This comes at the price of potential negative consequences unrelated to the success or failure of the task. The probability and severity of the negative consequence are determined by the size of the bonus being added. Critical failures cannot be bargained away, nor can bargaining result in a critical success.

If players choose to bargain, I will roll one d10 and the consequences will depend on the result of that roll. See image.

>>2680540>> Let Atoreshk handle the interrogation for now. You can just observe.> Don't yet, you'd rather not have her snap back after the six day limit if you can get your answers through conventional means.

Telemok sets to work crafting the compulsion, sculpting one of the red crystals from above his head into the shape of a dandelion. Standing over Julia's sleeping form, he turns to Atoreshk. "This will compel Julia to cooperate with you, Atoreshk, and your tribe, the Jorran Maw," he says. "Then, after six days, the compulsion will fade and she will realize what has happened."

Atoreshk nods. "Bring her over here please," he says, motioning toward the beach next to him, closer to the surf. "Then implant the compulsion. Once we're done questioning her for today, you will have the remainder of your payment."

Telemok complies, carrying the sleeping cabalist down closer to the water and setting her down near where Atoreshk is sitting, between him and Deshka. You are sitting off to the side, on the far side of Deshka from where Julia is. Then Telemok slowly inserts the red crystal into Julia's head, though it resists slightly in a way that it didn't when you saw him do it with Selkirk back in San Laurent.

"She possesses minor mental conditioning that will reduce the compulsion's effectiveness," the demon comments. "Meet the compulsion half way to compensate."

"I think my presence will help with that," Yventa comments from where she is standing in front of the group.

With that, Atoreshk leans over and gently nudges Julia. She mumbles something in her sleep about chains as she stirs and yawns contentedly, but when her eyes finally slide open and she sees the two merfolk sitting next to her she stiffens and takes a sharp breath.

"Hello, Julia," Atoreshk says softly. "Don't be alarmed, we're not going to hurt you." "If we wanted to do that, we could have done so by now. My name is Atoreshk, and this is my daughter, Deshka." He motions toward Deshka, who waves and mouths a silent 'hello' when Julia turns toward her. "We'd like to talk with you," her father continues.

"Talk?" Julia looks over at Telemok, standing back away from the group but menacing all the same, then to Yventa. You can hear a clear tinge of nervousness in her voice. "About what?"

"Well, about you, first of all," Atoreshek says patiently. "Then, if you're feeling up to it, about the group that you're in."

"I-" Julia stops, then look down at her feet. The waves moving up and down the sand don't quite reach high enough to touch them. "I fucked up, didn't I," she says, bringing her legs up toward her and clutching them against her chest. "The silver is gone. I had just one job, and I failed."

"You held out admirably considering the resources arrayed against you," Atoreshk says, placing a webbed hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Without any assistance you managed to evade the demons of eleven merfolk tribes for more than a month. That's not a small accomplishment."

"But in the end I failed," Julia says despondently. "That accomplishment isn't worth anything without the silver."

"Julia, you're being too hard on yourself," Yventa says in her warm, soft voice, taking a step closer to Julia and kneeling down on the sand in front of her. "Everyone has limits. There comes a time when the forces arrayed against you are just too much to overcome, even if you do your absolute best." The demon reaches out and gently takes one of Julia's hands in her own reptilian claws. "You tried anyway, and that kind of courage is impressive, but you shouldn't agonize over the fact that you couldn't beat an entire army and all of its demons on your own."

For a moment you're left wondering if this is an interrogation at all, when Julia finally lets out a hesitant reply. "That- I mean-" She pauses again, then seems to visibly deflate and lets out a long sigh. "I guess you're right. It's just that-" She stops, then continues in a small, embarrassed-sounding voice. "I didn't want to disappoint Master Hart."

"Who is that?" Deshka asks. "He must mean a lot to you if you're willing to go through all of this for him."

"He's the one who taught me demonology," Julia answers, smiling shyly at the thought. "If it weren't for him, I'd just be some village girl with no idea how to be anything more than that. All I'd know about magic is 'Saints good, everyone else bad,' and I would never have been able to delve deeper than that. He opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me."

You shift uncomfortably at how familiar that sounds, though thankfully everyone else is too focused on Julia to notice.

Yventa lets go of Julia's hand and sits down on the beach in front of her. "What's he like?" the demon asks.

"He-" Julia struggles to find the right word, eventually settling on, "He's driven." She shifts slightly so that she's sitting crosslegged. "He's brilliant and confident. He always has a plan, he always knows exactly what to do, and he's completely unstoppable about doing it." The more she talks, the more wistful she starts to get. "And he wants what's best for everyone, he wants to change Torien so that the church won't be able to stop us from practicing demonology anymore. We'll be able to practice openly and we'll be able to teach others to do the same, with no one there to stop us."

"That sounds like a serious challenge," Atoreshk comments from beside her. "Does he have any help? Anyone else like him?"

"Well, there are a few other masters, I only really know two of them. Master Voigt and Master Weber, but they're not really like Master Hart. They-" Julia scrunches her face slightly. "They're small. Master Voigt was always afraid of something and always hiding something, while Master Weber was always trying to get in Master Hart's way on everything," she says, frustration creeping into her voice. "It was like everything Master Hart tried to do, Master Weber would oppose it." She sighs, then continues in a calmer voice. "Aside from the masters, there are some apprentices and journeymen like me, scattered all over Torien."

"Still," Atoreshk says, "taking on the entire church can't be easy. How did Master Hart plan on doing that?"

Julia hesitates slightly. "Well, I don't know if I should be telling you this."

"We're summoners too, like you," Deshka says, placing one of her hands on Julia's other shoulder like her father. "We have no love for the church or their rules. If there's a way to bring down the church, maybe we can help? We don't have to be enemies," she says with a charming smile. "We want the same thing you do, to be able to practice magic in peace so that we can help our people."

"I- I guess you're right," Julia says after a few seconds under Deshka's disarming assault. "You see, Master Weber discovered something about the Ephesian Saints. He found out how the church makes them. They have an artifact, a big obsidian obelisk called the Black Candle. The church harvests some kind of wax from the candle that they make into a potion and use in a ritual to make someone a Saint. The Candle isn't ordinary obsidian, though. It's pretty much indestructible as far as we know, except for one thing. There's an amulet that was made at the same time the Candle was, and it can bypass the Candle's protections so that we can destroy it."

"If you're after an amulet," Atoreshk asks, "what did you need all that Hell-forged silver for?"

Julia nods. "That was Master Hart's plan," she says, smiling proudly. "We need to find the amulet, but we have no idea where it is. So, Master Hart decided that we should start gathering and stockpiling Hell-forged silver to make an Argus Mirror. That way, we'll be able to find the amulet, and then we'll be able to use it to destroy the Black Candle. Without any way to make more Saints, the church will be doomed."

Both demons and both merfolk all stare at her in disbelief, an impressive accomplishment considering that one of those demons doesn't even have eyes. Atoreshk is the first to speak. "An Argus Mirror," he says, clearly believing that he simply heard her wrong. "As in the mirror made by the Ninth Circle? The one that can see anything in the world?"

Julia nods again, still smiling. "Yes. The other masters were too small to think of it, and when Master Hart told them his plan, they didn't want to try something so ambitious. They tried to drag their feet, but once Master Hart has his sights set on something, he gets it," she says, beaming. "In the end, he forced the other masters to agree to the plan."

"But only the Ninth Circle has ever made an Argus Mirror," Yventa says, confusion somehow creeping into her gentle voice. "No mortal has ever been able to accomplish that, and even the small gods don't know how to do it."

"That's what the other masters said, but Master Hart says that he knows how to do it."

The rest of the group is silent again, and again it is Atoreshk who regains the use of his voice first. "Alright, but even if Master Hart knows how to make it, according to the stories an Argus Mirror is almost half a ton of solid Hell-forged silver. How did he plan on getting all that silver?"

"Well, Master Voigt wanted to try to slowly build up a supply by just buying it normally in Masharak," Julia says dismissively, "but that would take decades. Maybe even generations. Master Hart didn't want to wait that long, so he had us, the apprentices and the journeymen loyal to him, start stealing it from all sorts of people. Merfolk, shar, dwarves, the Habori, everyone. I don't know much about the others, but Master Hart said that there are more than twenty of these caches in Torien," she says excitedly, apparently forgetting in her haste that her own cache is now long gone. "We'd need about forty to make an Argus Mirror. It's only been a few years now, and we're already more than half way there!"

"But how exactly did you steal this much silver," Atoreshk says, raising an eyebrow, "and from so many people? That's quite a list of people who wouldn't appreciate being stolen from."

Julia shrugs in response. "I'm not entirely sure, but one of the other journeymen is apparently a cambion child of a powerful demon of night, one who can both slip in and out of places undetected and doesn't chat about it with other demons. The cambion has been able to get its parent to help Master Hart with his plan, all without the rest of Hell learning about it. We also used the first round of silver that we stole to make items that would help some of us steal more of it where we could. I'm not one of the thieves, but they have Hell-forged silver knives made by the night demon that allow them to do all sorts of things, like step into one shadow and out of another one far away."

"But you didn't have one?" Deshka asks.

Julia looks a bit taken aback by the question at first. It looks like she's about to respond, but then she pauses and thinks for a moment. When she answers, it's hesitant at first. "Master Hart didn't think I would need one. He-" Julia stops, seems to gather her thoughts, and then continues with a little more conviction in her words. "He was confident in my ability to keep the cache safe without one."

> Ask if Julia knows about the recent find in Geldor regarding the amulet.> Ask about Lukas Weber, the master you heard about from Telemok.> Ask about the Argus Mirror. How does Hart know how to make one?> Ask something else. (Specify)> Remain silent, continue to let Atoreshk ask the questions.> Write in.

Julia nods. "We communicate via demon, in code so they can't spill everything to the rest of Hell." She pauses and cocks her head to the side, looking up at the clear blue sky in thought. "Actually, come to think of it, there's probably a message waiting for me by now. I didn't want to risk summoning while I was hiding, but with that ordeal over I should probably check for any updates."

Atoreshk smiles. "You could summon it now, we'd be happy to supply you with the materials and the sacrifice."

"Thank you," Julia says. Under the sway of multiple mind-influencing demons, she doesn't seem to understand that Atoreshk is not in fact doing her any favors. "I hope nothing happened while I was out of contact."

Atoreshk provides Julia with some small driftwood carvings, a bowl, wooden tokens, and the tools for marking out a summoning circle. You have to move to another part of the beach to find a section of rock for the circle, but once you do, Julia quickly gets to work. All the while, Yventa is standing next to her, seemingly comforting her while actually watching her.

Julia completes the summoning, and the demon that materializes from the smoke is a muscular man with flame seeping through cracks in his skin and a metal mask covering his face.

"Falkeer," Julia says with a relieved smile.

"Julia?" the demon replies in a voice so deep that you can feel it in your bones. "It's been a while. Weren't you supposed to check in sooner than this?"

"Yes," she says, fidgeting slightly. "Unfortunately I was preoccupied at the time. Are there any messages for me?"

"Two," Falkeer replies. "The first one was S R E 2 E A S H."

Julia sighs and nods. "Alright, that one isn't surprising. And the second?"

"N- no," she stammers out unconvincingly. "No, it's- it's just that I wan't expecting that."

"Are you sure?" Though the demon is physically quite intimidating and its voice alone would let it menace even a brave knight, its tone now sounds like one of genuine concern for Julia. "I've been hearing rumors that something serious was happening in Rathburg."

Julia, however, waves a hand dismissively. "That's all done now." Then she sighs and grumbles, "And it really doesn't even matter any more." After a moment's thought, she then adds, "When did you receive that second message?"

"Three weeks ago," the demon replies.

On hearing that, Julia covers her face with her hands, leans her head back, and lets out a frustrated groan.

"Julia," Falkeer says, a little more insistent this time. "Tell me what's wrong. Are you in trouble?"

She lets out a sigh and hangs her head. "Not right now, no, but I might be soon." She turns back to the demon. "Thank you, Falkeer, that's all I needed."

The demon pauses. It looks at you, then at Yventa standing next to Julia, then over at Telemok standing some distance away, then to Atoreshk and Deshka who have moved to a position closer to the rock outcropping. Finally it looks back at Julia and lets out a tired sigh, as if it has seen this all before. "Take care, Julia," it says, then disappears in a plume of smoke.

After standing there for a moment with only the sound of the waves crashing in the background, Julia hops down off the rocks and onto the sand. She walks over to where Deshka is sitting on the beach and flops down on her back, staring up at the sky. Then she covers her face with her hands again and grumbles, "Of course."

Deshka and her father exchange puzzled glances. "What did that mean?" Deshka asks.

"The Argus Mirror project has been canceled," Julia replies. "The amulet has been located. I'm supposed to go to Geldor." After a few, long seconds she mumbles, "Three weeks. That was three weeks ago. I'm already late. Probably too late."

"I'm sure Master Hart will understand that there were extenuating circumstances," Deshka says.

"I hope so," is all Julia can manage.

Atoreshk clears his throat slightly and speaks slightly more formally. "In the mean time," he says to Julia, "I'd ask that you remain here, with the Jorran Maw, for the next few days at least." Julia looks like she's about to object when he continues. "From the sounds of it you're already too late to make your rendezvous in Geldor, so instead I'd like you to help us get in touch with your Master Hart to open a dialog," he says, careful to phrase things in a way that makes it sound like she's still serving Hart. Atoreshk gives her a smile to finish selling the lie. "Perhaps we can cooperate more in the future."

Julia thinks that over for a few seconds, though with all the magic bending her thoughts the outcome is not really in question. "Alright," she says eventually. "I'll do what I can to help."

"We'll bring you whatever you'd like to make your stay on this island as comfortable as possible," Atoreshk adds.

"Now," he says, shifting his sitting body slightly. He motions to the area of beach around him. "If you'll excuse me, my daughter and I need a little bit of room to get turned around. Wouldn't want to hit you in the face with a tail."

Julia nods. "Right, of course," she says as she gets back to her feet and moves to a safe distance.

Deshka quickly rolls down the beach on her side, giggling as she goes, and disappears into the waves. Atoreshk however, motions for you to come over to him for a moment. "A word," he says to you.

You walk aver to where he is sitting and lean close enough so that only the two of you will hear what you are saying. "Are you actually thinking of working with Hart?" you ask him.

The merfolk shrugs in response, then shakes his head. "That will depend more on Hart and my brother than me, but honestly I doubt it will work. Anyway, I think we've pushed far enough for today. Deshka and I will go pay the demons. When we return, we'll be able to take you back to Rathburg. If you have more questions for Julia, you can try asking them now, or you can come back another time. We'll be continuing the questioning tomorrow morning, but if you'd prefer to stay in Rathburg, I can just give you a report on what I've learned in a few days. Talk with the bartender at the Salted Wound, he passes messages for us. It's a tavern at the docks on the coastal side of the bridge in Rathburg."

> Continue to observe interrogations personally.> Let Atoreshk sum things up for you in a few days.

Also, while you're alone with Julia> Ask Julia about Weber.> Ask Julia about Hart.> Ask Julia about her own thoughts on all this.> Ask Julia about something else. (Specify)> Don't ask Julia any further questions, proceed back to Rathburg.> Write in.

They'll probably be upset at not getting all that silver, but we accidentally did the cabal a favor by getting the thief caught. If the Merfolk don't kill her or the like, we might give her a little silver as a token of sympathy. We want to like them, but we can't stand by and let a town get slaughtered because they're getting sloppy.Ridding the church of power will be a useless effort if it makes everyone hate demons and their summoners for other reasons instead.

Just started reading the first thread and just wanted to say that I'm absolutely loving the setting you've come up with, especially the way ascending through the circles of hell works.Looking forward to catching up, and I hope you don't abandon us!

He nods, then pauses and looks over at the sea. He sighs, twists his body so that he's lying on his stomach, and uses his arms to drag himself toward the water. "There just isn't a way that makes this look dignified," he grumbles.

You chuckle at that. "Your daughter did alright, I think."

"I'd hardly call that dignified. Charming, perhaps, but not dignified."

When Atoreshk disappears beneath the waves, both Telemok and Yventa walk into the sea after him. You and Julia are left standing on the beach, looking out across Rathera Bay in silence. A minute later you feel a bitter cold wash over you, as if a fire you were relying on for warmth had suddenly died. Your heart sinks down into its familiar place as its old weight returns, and you put your mask back on with an inward sigh.

"I never got your name," Julia says eventually.

"Marcus," you reply. "So, what are your thoughts on all of this, Julia?"

"Pardon?"

You sit down on the beach and watch as the waves roll in. "The merfolk seem surprisingly friendly given that you're from a cabal that stole a lot of Hell-forged silver from them, and you personally spent the last month frustrating their attempts to get it back."

"Yes, it's strange." Julia sits down on the beach as well, though a full arm's length away from you. "When I was running, I thought they would kill me if they found me."

"I suppose that's the Jorran Maw for you," you say with a shrug. "They seem to be a cordial bunch."

"I hope they can work something out with Master Hart," Julia says timidly after a few seconds of silence. "Having their help against the church would be nice."

You let out a humorless chuckle and look over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe the cabal would have been better off not making enemies of them in the first place, especially when they already have a very powerful one here in Torien."

"Master Hart needed their silver," Julia half-heartedly protests. "We didn't know where the amulet was when we started all this."

You feign an expression of contemplation and nod your head in an exaggerated fashion. "Yes, you needed it to make an Argus Mirror. Something that no mortal or small god has ever accomplished." You drop the sarcasm and give Julia a disappointed look. "Only two have ever existed, both made by the Ninth Circle."

"Master Hart says that he can," is all Julia can really say in response. You notice from the saddened look on her face that she too seems to be feeling the effects of Yventa's departure. The gravity of her current situation, a captive of the merfolk she spent the last month running from, is finally setting in now that there isn't a demon of peace to keep her from worrying too much about it.

"Master Hart says that he can," is all Julia can really say in response. You notice from the saddened look on her face that she too seems to be feeling the effects of Yventa's departure. The gravity of her current situation, a captive of the merfolk she spent the last month running from, is finally setting in now that there isn't a demon of peace to keep her from worrying too much about it.

You scoff at that. "If he was really that powerful, the Ninth Circle would have killed him by now." You sigh and shake your head. "And even if he does know, what if you were found out and all killed by any one of the many groups you've been stealing from? Then it wouldn't matter, you'd be dead. Antagonizing a sizable chunk of the world all at once isn't a very good long term strategy."

Julia looks back over at you and her eyes narrow slightly. "You had a demon in the catacombs, you're clearly a demonologist. Don't you want to see the church gone too? Don't you want to be able to practice openly one day?"

You nod. "Yes. I respect that goal, even agree with it, but your cabal seems to have some strange and foolish ideas about how to pursue it. From your conversation with Falkeer, it sounded like this isn't the first time cabal business has gotten you into trouble."

She looks down at the sand. "Well, no," she admits. "No, it isn't the first time."

"Then why stay with them? In my experience, a cabal just means more ways to get caught by the Inquisition. Cooperate with other demonologists if you run into each other, sure, but staying in constant communication? Having codes to tell you to go certain places? Those come with serious risks. The more links there are in a chain, the more places it can fail."

"Because I don't want to have to hide," she says, now with much more conviction in her voice. "Why should we? What have we done to deserve this kind of contempt? If I can help bring down the church, then I'll take the risk, if only for the hope that someday I won't need to be constantly looking over my shoulder and jumping at any noise when I go to summon. I hate having to worry about what might happen if someone sees me even though I'm doing something that isn't actually harming anyone."

There's not much you can saw to that, really. That fear is a feeling you're all too familiar with. You just give Julia a mirthless smile and nod, then look back toward the sea. After a minute of silence, you idly ask her, "Have you ever thought about leaving Torien? Maybe go someplace where they treat demonologists better. Masharak, perhaps."

Julia just shakes her head. "I'd rather fight for the right to practice openly in my own homeland. Being treated like scum in Masharak might be a bit better than being broken on a wheel in Torien, but I wouldn't be content with it."

"What?" She looks back at you somewhat confused, wondering what you're asking about.

"Why would you be treated like scum in Masharak?"

Her perplexed expression makes it clear that she thinks the answer should be obvious. "Because I'm a demonologist."

That only confuses you further, until something occurs to you. "You've never been to Masharak, have you?"

Julia shakes her head. "No, but Master Hart has, and he told me what it's like there."

Ah. "Maybe he had a bad experience," you say, "but I lived in Masharak for three years and I can tell you that they don't mistreat demonologists at all. It's a respected profession there." You look up at the sky in thought, then add, "If anything, being a demonologist can put them at ease, if you're Toric anyway. After centuries of war, they have no love for the Ephesian church, and one way to show that you're not an Ephesian is to deal with demons."

Several emotions flicker across Julia's face in quick succession as she tries to process what you're saying. She eventually settles on a mix of confusion and worry. "That can't be right," she says. "Master Hart said the cities there were infested with petty thugs devoted to harassing demonologists. I remember he was very passionate when he was talking about it. It was one of the reasons he said we needed to make Torien a place to call our own."

"Honestly, I don't know what he's talking about," you say with a shrug. "I can't imagine one of the city-states tolerating that sort of behavior for long. It would hurt their standing versus their rivals. Even setting aside all the mundane uses, demons and demonologists are a critical part of their armies. Sure, there are criminals in the city-states, they are still cities and all cities have their criminals, but nothing focused on demonologists."

The ideas she's grappling with now seem to upset her, so Julia hurriedly tries to move the conversation along. "Then why don't you still live in Masharak?" she asks. "You were there before, and if it's not bad there, then why come back here?"

You sigh. "They don't need me there," you say after a moment's silence. You let out another humorless chuckle. "I suppose my answer's not all that different from yours. I want the people of my homeland to be able to benefit from this magic of ours. If I live to be old and grey, then I might go back there to live out my final years." You smile wistfully at the thought. There is a part of you that misses the city-states, with the whirl of activity, dazzling sights, and countless strange peoples from Kahgran to Inner Sahal to the westerlands beyond the Habori Empire. "Maybe sire a few cambions while I'm at it," you say with another, more genuine chuckle.

"Oh come now," you say, your smile broadening into a grin. "You must have given it at least a little bit of thought."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she mumbles.

"I'm sure," you say with an obviously disingenuous nod. "I'm sure you've never thought about Falkeer and his muscles and his deep voice."

"Don't know what you're talking about," she insists again. The redness in her cheeks deepens.

"There's no need to be embarrassed," you say, reaching over to her an gently pushing the side of her shoulder with your fist. "There comes a time in every demonologist's career when you find a demon that makes you say 'I want to make a cambion with that.' Atoreshk's grandmother had one with a demon that was an entire murder of crows. Next to that, being interested in a muscular man with a deep voice is rather tame."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she insists again. You're about to continue tormenting the poor girl when she bolts to her feet. "Oh look, the merfolk are back!" she says desperately. You turn and look out to sea and spy Deshka bobbing up and down in the surf. The merfolk woman smiles and waves at you.

Julia grabs you, hauls you to your feet, and starts pushing you in the direction of the boat you came in. "I'm sure it'd be rude to keep them waiting!" She shoves you into the boat, sending you sprawling into the tiny wooden deathtrap, then quickly grabs one of the ropes tied to it and throws it at Deshka. "Goodbye, Marcus!" she says as she starts trying to push the boat down into the water.

"Now, now," you say between laughs, "there's nothing wrong wi-"

You're cut off as the boat suddenly jerks forward, and you're off on another terrifying sleigh-ride across Rathera Bay.

It's getting into the mid afternoon when you finally arrive back in Rathburg.> Go check on Hannah and Ibrahim, see how they've been doing in your absence.> Go to see Helga at her shop. You still need to tell her about what happened to her husband.> Retrieve the letters concerning Mayor Hoffman from Warwick's Lodge and bring them to the local priest.> Go to Warwick's Lodge and summon a demon to talk about the Hell-forged silver you now possess. > Write in.

>>2685032>> Go to see Helga at her shop. You still need to tell her about what happened to her husband.Let's find out what she wants to do with the letters; if she's okay with it, we'll take it to the priest afterward

You decide that it's time to tell Helga what happened to her husband David. After what happened in the catacombs, you can't help but feel guilt at the man's death. He was only down there in the first place because Hoffman was corrupt, murderous trash, and you left him alone knowing that there was something sinister stalking through those tunnels. You had told yourself that it wasn't your problem, that you needed to stay focused and hurry to find the silver to save Rathburg, but now, facing the prospect of telling his wife that she is now a widow, that excuse rings hollow. Did you really need to leave him there, alone? Maybe you should have stood and fought then, you had brought Karkordon down into the catacombs for just that, and you ultimately had to face that demon eventually.

You sigh and add that regret to the pile. It will have plenty of company.

You find the shop fairly easily. As David said when you last saw him alive, it's down by the ferry. The wooden sign hanging above the door has been lovingly painted with the image of a village girl dancing merrily. You steel yourself as best you can and walk into the shop. A bell above the door rings as you enter and look around. It's a cozy little thing, made more so by the warm afternoon light streaming in through the window. There is a large table that dominates the center of the room, with benches, stools, and a small wooden tub taking up much of the remaining floor space. Racks of tools and shoes line most of the walls, save for a hearth at the far side from the entrance.

At the sound of the bell, a woman pokes her head out from a doorway leading further into the building. She's dressed plainly, though neatly, and looks like she's just starting to get into middle-age. She has blond hair that is mostly covered and a slight squareness to her jaw. "Can I help you, sir?" she asks. "I was just about to close up for the evening."

"You're Helga? David's wife?"

"Yes?" The look on her face turns apprehensive.

You take a deep breath. "There's something I need to tell you."

How much do you want to tell her?> Tell her only that her husband was killed in the catacombs.> Tell her that her husband was killed by one of the merfolk's demons in the catacombs.> Tell her that her husband was killed in the catacombs and tell her about Hoffman and the letters, but leave out the specifics about the demon and the merfolk.> Tell her the full story.> Write in.

>>2685269>> Tell her that her husband was killed in the catacombs and tell her about Hoffman and the letters, but leave out the specifics about the demon and the merfolk.Dodge anything about why we were there. She'll be emotional and likely to believe any half-hearted story. If she intends to go to the priest about this we don't want her pointing fingers or letting slip our true profession.

>>2685269>> Tell her only that her husband was killed in the catacombs.There is no need to go into details. Both for her own safety and our own, this is more than enough. We're not the police and even doing this for free, so we have no obligations to tell her every bit that can involve us

Helga's face lights up immediately upon hearing that. She rushes over to you, deftly navigating the cluttered room. "You've seen him?" she asks urgently. "Is he alright? What happened?" Then she sees your remorseful expression, and whatever small relief she felt at hearing David's name runs from her face. Her mouth opens briefly before she covers it with her hands, and you notice her begin to shake ever so slightly. "Oh no," is all she manages to say.

Your gaze sinks to the floor. "He's dead," you say quietly.

Her eyes begin to water, and soon tears are rolling down her cheeks. Helga takes a sharp breath and clasps her hands together against her chest, trying to steady herself and hold down a sob. She takes in another sharp breath and lets out a choked gasp before trying to wipe away her tears with a sleeve. But no matter what she tries, the tears keep coming and her body keeps shaking as she clamps down on each breath before it can become a mournful wail.

You watch in silence, her pain adding more weight to the questions you asked yourself earlier. After a moment, you slowly walk over alongside her and gently place your hands on her shoulders, guiding her over to a bench where the two of you take a seat. Helga slumps forward and begins to cry in earnest, no longer trying to hold back her wracking sobs. You keep one of your hands on her back to try to comfort her, and you feel each sob shudder through her entire body.

After a minute of crying, Helga has let out enough to try talking again. "What happened?" she asks softly.

You purse your lips and wipe away a few of your own tears. "I was down in the catacombs looking for the thief because of that merfolk problem yesterday. That's where I found David's body."

She turns and looks you right in the eyes, the expression of sorrow on her face hitting you like a knife through the heart "Why?" she ask in a long, plaintiff wail. She sniffs and asks again, more gently. "Why was he down there?"

"He had-" you start, then stop. You take a deep breath, then continue. "Your husband found letters showing that Mayor Hoffman murdered his own brothers. Hoffman found out and sent someone to kill him. He was trying to hide out in the catacombs when he was killed."

Helga looks back down at the floor and the dark dots of fallen tears in front of where she sits. "Someone broke in the night David left," she says eventually. "Wasn't even trying to steal anything, just came right at us with a knife. David managed to fend him off with a fire iron, but after that he was panicking. He said something about making a mistake, that it wasn't safe for him here and he needed to hide. He said that more people would be trying to kill him." Helga's voice becomes more and more strained with each moment, until finally it gives out. "Then he left," she says, so softly that you can barely hear it.

The two of you sit there for a while longer until the worst has passed. When you hear Helga's breathing finally steady and her body easy slightly, you stand up again. "I have the letters," you say.

Helga sniffs and wipes away most of her remaining tears. She looks you in the eye again and this time you can see an undercurrent of anger starting to rise up from beneath the sorrow. "Whatever you do with them," she says, her voice harsher than before, "make sure Hoffman doesn't get away with this."

You nod slowly. "I'll do what I can." You turn to start heading for the door, when Helga speaks up.

"If you get the chance," she says with a softness returning to her voice. "Could you bring back David's-" She pauses for a moment, struggling to say the words. "David's body? I'd like to make sure he's put to rest properly."

> Agree> Refuse

Also choose what to handle next.> Aftermath of Hannah's attempt at commerce.> Summon a demon to talk about making something with the Hell-forged silver. (Specify demon)> Bring the letters to the local priest.> Write in.

You turn and leave the shop, your heart heavy as you walk back toward Warwick's Lodge in the evening light. Rathburg looks to be winding down for the day, and collectively breathing a sigh of relief now that the merfolk's deadline has passed without incident.

Entering the common room of Warwick's Lodge, you spot Hannah and Ibrahim at one of the tables. Hannah is resting her head on the table, her arms serving as a pillow, while Ibrahim is eating some something that might have been bread in a past life.

Walking over to the two of them, you greet Ibrahim with a weak smile and a nod. "So, how'd things go?" Right now, you could use something to lift your spirits.

"I've sold things before," comes Hannah's muffled response. "And I helped you in San Laurent. I thought this would only be a little bit harder." She doesn't lift her head, continuing to speak into her arms. "I was wrong. I was so very wrong."

"She did decently for her first time without you," Ibrahim says sagely, "but something tells me she isn't eager to repeat the experience."

You look over at Ibrahim and raise an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't understand sarcasm?"

"Hannah explained it to me on the way back from the market," he says before taking a bite from the bread-shaped stone he is eating, swallowing it with some difficulty. "I am experimenting with it."

Hannah finally lifts her head and begins to vent. "Whenever I was handling a sale, someone else would be asking me questions. Whenever I tried to answer a question, someone else would try to swipe something. Thankfully, Ibrahim was there to handle those people. And I eventually stopped counting how many people showed up to flirt without even looking at anything that was for sale. Then there were all the people who assumed I was married to Ibrahim and wanted to give me vulgar lectures on who I should open my legs for." She throws her arms up in exasperation. "Some people even did both!"

You chuckle a bit and sigh. "Well, the first two I'm familiar with, the other two, less so. Somewhat. It took me some time to grow comfortable with forcing people to wait, but sadly there's just no way around that."

Hannah gives you a tired look and tries to smile, but her heart isn't in it. "I know I got into this to learn, but that was a bit faster than I was ready for.

"I'll try not to leave you to run things for a whole day in the future," you say, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Not until you're more comfortable, at least. There may be a few times when I need to handle things on the side though."

She nods. "An hour or two I can deal with. It's just the whole day that can get overwhelming."

After supper, you're back in your room upstairs, admiring the bar Hell-forged silver you earned yesterday. You idly turn the bar over in your hands, admiring the halo it produces in the fading light.

Eight ounces of Hell-forged silver. But what to do with it? Shaving off a half-ounce to serve as the core of a trinket is the obvious choice, you've done that before. Though with this much all at once, is there possibly more that you could do? Maybe you could ask one of your demons. Imbuing an item with demonic power is something that takes at least a third circle demon, so that narrows the list a bit.

Vedek would know more, or at the very least know someone who knows. Keboro might as well, though his expertise is usually deep rather than broad. Karkordon would know, but probably wouldn't tell you. Telemok is still a bit of a mystery to you. Remeer... Well, if he's in the mood he might help. Or he might make your hands look like masses of tentacles for a few minutes, it's a toss up really.

Then there's the question of how you would pay once you know what you're going to make. You're already pushing your limits when it comes to your own blood, and the things that made you hesitant to ask Ibrahim or Hannah for their contribution haven't really changed. You might need to acquire more sacrifice somehow.

Consult with> Vedek. He's both generally knowledgable and trustworthy.> Keboro. He made you pendant, and that's worked out fairly well so far. Maybe he has more ideas?> Telemok. The information you got from him this morning shows that he's clearly very well connected in Hell. You still don't trust him much, but there's no denying his usefulness.> Remer. The most powerful demon that you have on call. He's friendly, and his domain could let him make extremely useful items

Plan to pay with> You can buy crafted items with some of the giant pile of money that you've acquired in the last two days. That would probably be the safest option, you are a merchant after all.> The slaughterhouse that you visited might still have some pigs for sale, though the people there might start asking questions about why you're buying even more pigs after you already got three> Try to sneak in to the slaughterhouse to acquire blood. They'll probably be swimming in it, but getting caught would extremely bad.> Explore options about purchasing livestock from other sources. Uncertain, but potentially less dangerous than the slaughterhouse.> Ask the merfolk. They almost certainly have some source of sacrifice.> Write in

>>2689615>> Remer. The most powerful demon that you have on call. He's friendly, and his domain could let him make extremely useful items>> You can buy crafted items with some of the giant pile of money that you've acquired in the last two days. That would probably be the safest option, you are a merchant after all.

I bet he could make something profitable to us, as he can implant ideas in people, i believe he could craft something that would inspire people to buy from us, or at least something that would make people trust us more easily, a ring maybe ?

Remeer. Dealing with him is a throw of the dice. Sometimes you win big. Other times, not so much. Well, right now you're only summoning him for consultation, you'll need to wait until tomorrow to buy the art to pay him with, so you don't need to let him out of the circle tonight. As long as you don't make any mistakes there, he won't be able to do much besides talk.

As you're carving the tokens for Remeer, it occurs to you that you probably should be more grateful to him than you are. After all, he has saved your life twice. One of those times was even from something that he did not himself engineer. Still, after that incident with the bees, you're not taking any chances. After placing the bowl with the symbols and the initial offering in the summoning circle, you triple check the everything to make certain that nothing can possibly go wrong. Only once you're absolutely certain that everything is in order do you take your place and speak the words.

The offering and the tokens burn away immediately. Remeer always was prompt about everything, never one to contemplate something for long. The smoke that rises from the bowl takes the shape of a deep red maw with row after row of pointed teeth and an enormous eye at its center. Four long, skeletal arms with vicious looking claws emerge from its sides, and a pair of slender legs hang down beneath it but do not reach the floor.

"Ah, Daniel, so good to see you again. I was getting worried that you had forgotten about me."

You bow. "Greetings, Remeer. I assure you, there is no way I could forget you," you say with a smile. "You tend to leave an enduring impression." Then, after a pause, you add, "Also, I go by Marcus now."

"Another name change? Hmm." Remeer somehow manages to rub his chin with all four of his clawed hands in an exaggerated manner. "And I notice that huntress isn't hanging off your arm any more." His lower jaw rises, partially concealing the lower half of his eye. You can hear the smile in his voice. "Those two things wouldn't happen to be related, would they?"

You clear your throat. "I summoned you to ask for your advice on something," you say, trying to move the conversation away from the topic of a certain former companion.

"If it's how to escape from an angry, crossbow-wielding jilted lover, I'm afraid I don't have much experience in that area." Remeer laughs. It's a deep belly laugh, complete with the demon clutching its sides with its four arms.

You feel you face flush slightly, and decide to take a more direct approach. "I have this." You hold up the bar. Unfortunately the sun has gone down and the lantern light doesn't quite catch the bar right to produce a halo, so you add, "Hell-forged silver."

Remeer's eye swivels down to look at the bar and he tilts his head side to side as he examines it. "Interesting. Something to do with that thing happening in Rathburg?"

You nod. "Something like that. I was wondering what you could make with it."

"With the whole thing? A full eight ounce bar? That is an eight ounce bar, correct?"

"Yes, it is. I'll probably want to use it for a number of items, though what could you make with the whole thing?"

"Hmm, that would be more than enough for a doppelkin bracer," Remeer says, nodding. "It would let you create an illusionary duplicate of you or someone you have recently touched, capable of fooling sight, sound, and smell. It would be a fragment of your mind and would obey telepathic commands. Or a mimic's mask, which would make you appear and sound like a person you have seen, though only for a few minutes at a stretch."

"About half of that bar would be enough for an invisibility cloak, which is exactly what it sounds like. For more aggressive applications, there is a phobos medallion, which can produce illusions of the greatest fears of a target you can see. That would take a bit less than half. A quarter for a sleight glove, which can produce an illusion of anything you can envision in your hand. In a pinch it can simply produce light, potentially enough to temporarily blind, or render an object you are holding invisible."

"All of those are including the usual stealth properties, of course," he adds. "For avoiding cursory detection of magical items. I could make them with less material, but they would be more conspicuous. Usually people go with the standard stealth, since it generally defeats the purpose if it's easily detected as magical."

"Small trinkets of roughly half an ounce would mostly take the form of rings, pendants, and the like," Remeer continues. "They come in a wide variety and are too many to list out all of them, so if you want one, ask about a general area and I can tell you what options there are. A few ones of note are the forger's ring, which can make any paper, parchment, or other material take the appearance of another document for a day, including a seal, and the lotus ring, which briefly traps someone you touch in a pleasant illusionary world."

A second of silence follows, then you realize that Remeer is done. "Interesting," you say slowly, still trying to process the options that he rattled off. "That's a lot to consider."

Remeer 'smiles' with his eye again. "The greatest blessing of all is to live in interesting times. And it looks like these are interesting times for Torien. A renegade inquisitor, one of the eighth in Ferengraal, a Toric cabal, all while a Grand Mission is about to set out."

You start to nod, still thinking more about the potential items than Remeer's words, when you realize that one of those was new. "Wait, what was the second one?"

Remeer poorly feigns a casual voice. "Oh, you hadn't heard? Rivera, eighth circle of memory, was seen in Ferengraal. No doubt as part of one of her larger schemes."

Ferengraal. That's a bit south of Varena, which is already well south of you. Still, the summoning of an eighth circle demon could impact people all across Torien and even beyond. "How?" you ask. "Summoned by whom? And why?"

Remeer laughs again. "Ha! I'm not going to tell you that." He points at you, as if he's proud of somehow tricking you. "Now when I leave, you'll be left wondering what more I knew about it." He pauses. His hand slowly droops, then his arm falls limply to the side with the others. His eye shifts down to the floor and his voice takes on an embarrassed tone. "You didn't let me out of the circle," he says sheepishly, "so that's really the only thing I can think of to vex you."

> Ask about more small trinkets in a given area. (Specify)> Ask about a particular item. (Specify)> Ask some other question. (Specify)> You're done with Remeer, summon another demon. (Specify)> You're done for tonight, get some sleep and start shopping for sacrifice materials in the morning.> Write in

> Ask about a particular item. (Specify)Any idea how potent the illusions from that phobos medallion are? Realistic enough to freak someone out? Send them running away at top speed? Curl up in a ball and gibber in fear? Where on the scale are they?

> the forger's ring, which can make any paper, parchment, or other material take the appearance of another document for a day, including a sealDoes Torien have a banking system? Specifically, a banking system which issues high-value promissory notes?

>>2690282> Ask about more small trinkets in a given area. (Specify)Any small trinkets that would help our mercantile pursuits? Maybe an item that makes goods seem more valuable, if we're greedy, or less valuable, if we want to hide our best stock from bandits and thieves?

I'm going to go with- Ask about the phobos medallion.- Mercantile items that might make something seem more or less valuable.- Ask about who summoned Rivera, offer to payThen there will be a decision to make.

"Still no. I need to have some fun somehow," he protests. "All work and no play makes for a dull existence."

You grumble in frustration and shake your head. "Fine," you say, deciding to move on. "How potent are the illusions created by the phobos medallion? Powerful enough to send someone running away in fear? Curl up into a ball and gibber in fear?"

"The exact effect varies between people, a few might might be paralyzed with fear, but most will flee the illusions. Those of particularly strong will may try to fight on, but their attention will almost always be focused on the illusions."

You pause to consider what you might want in a trinket. The forger's ring sounds interesting, and hearing about it makes you understand why you've only seen merchant houses in Torien use promissory notes when they can keep the note overnight before handing over anything. And even then, only when it's made absolutely necessary by the prohibitively large amount of coin being transferred. "Of the minor trinkets," you ask, "what do you have with a mercantile bent? Perhaps making things appear more or less valuable?"

Remeer takes a moment to think. "Well, aside from the forger's ring," he says, "there's the perfume brooch. That conceals foul odors including the smell of spoiled or rotten food in the area. It might help sell food that has gone bad. The salvager's ring can make and item appear to be what it once looked like in the past, though only for an hour after you've touched it. And then there's the silken pendant, which, when touched to an item, gives it the apparent weight, malleability, and texture of a material of your choice for a day." He pauses, then quickly adds, "These are all illusions, of course. It does not actually make things lighter or softer, it merely makes them feel lighter and tricks the senses into thinking it is giving more or less when touched."

You nod. "Thank you, I'll be acquiring sacrifices tomorrow. I may summon you again once I have the means to pay you for crafting an item."

Remeer bounces back and forth in the air slightly, brushing right up against the limits of the circle. "You know..." he says in a long, childish voice that makes you dread what comes next. "There is something that you could do to convince me to tell you who summoned Rivera."

You sigh again. "What is it, Remeer."

"Oh, nothing much," he says with a shrug of four shoulders. "It's just that I'd like to have some fun." He leans forward slightly, his lone eye meeting your gaze intently. "Let me out of this circle."

Your eyes narrow in response. "That sounds like a terrible idea." You're fairly confident he won't hurt you, but Remeer on the loose in Rathburg? That can't end well.

"You know I don't kill people on my own time," Remeer says in a cajoling tone. You open your mouth to object, then stop and close it again. While you've never known him to kill people unless asked to, you also know that's different from him not doing it as a rule. Remeer continues. "I just like playing around out here more than sitting around in Hell where my powers don't actually do anything because no one uses these senses there. What's the harm in letting me have a night on the town?" He clasps his hands together beneath his body, leans slightly to the side, and blinks his massive, tooth-lined eye at you, doing his best impression of an innocent child.

You scoff at that. "The fact that we're actually in a town, and I know that even if you don't kill you could still do a lot of harm. Harm that could lead to people asking questions."

Remeer drops the innocent act and deflates slightly. "Well," he says in a more businesslike tone, "if you want to know who summoned Rivera, that's my price. Pay it, or our business is concluded."

>>2690931> Write in.Not tonight. Too much could go wrong. How would he feel about having a night on the town, the day we leave? Before we go, summon him, he hides for a bit, we get out of dodge, and then he has free reign to do as he pleases for a night. Might set things off between Rathburg and the merfolk again, but, so be it, we've done enough for them.

Sighing yet again, you hold up a hand to signal Remeer to wait. "I have some conditions before I let you out," you say.

"So you'll do it?" Remeer bounces up excitedly.

"Maybe," you say firmly. "That will depend on whether you agree to the conditions."

Remeer sighs and rolls his single, massive eye in his mouth. "Very well."

You hold up a finger. "First, I don't want you doing anything that could lead back to me. Don't reveal yourself until you're well clear of this lodge and stay away from it."

"Of course," he says matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't want you to actually get in trouble. You take me all sorts of interesting places, and that would be hard if you got caught."

"Second, I want you to focus primarily on the mayor of this town, William Hoffman. He's a middle-aged man with a sly look about him. He's almost certain to be well dressed." You gesture in the direction of the town hall. "The town hall is up that way, near the main market. If he's not there, you'll almost certainly find someone who knows where he is."

Remeer's eye smiles at that. "I take it you don't like the Mayor?"

"Not particularly, no. Also, no deaths."

"Fine."

"And no permanent injuries. Or property damage to those who can't afford it. I don't want you ruining some poor family's livelihood."

"Is that all?" Remeer asks in an impatient voice. "Or do you also want me to rub your feet?"

"And just one night. Don't stay after dawn."

"Fine, fine," the demon says, crossing all four of its arms and turning away slightly. He grumbles, "I'll have to make the most of it then." Then his gaze swivels back to you, expectantly. "Any other rules for me?"

You stand there for a moment in silence, pondering your action before finally saying, "No." You step forward, to within an arm's length of the massive, floating demon, and smudge the summoning circle with your foot. Remeer responds by stretching out all four of his arms to their full length, filling the entire room from corner to corner, and wiggles his long, scything fingers. He makes an odd humming noise as he does, and after a few seconds of this relaxes into his normal position.

Remeer leans over to you, as if to whisper the answer in your ear. "You heard about the cabal?"

You groan. "Damn it all."

Remeer hops back slightly, holding up a long finger. "But wait, it gets better! One of the cabal masters was outed just recently. Lukas Weber. Apparently he was pushed out because he decided to do something the other masters thought was too risky. Rivera had contacted the cabal, and asked them to summon her into Ferengraal. The cabal said no, but Weber agreed."

Hearing Remeer out, you try to piece that together with what you heard from Telemok in the morning, and one thing doesn't fit. "Wait, I heard just this morning that Lukas Weber was in Upper Wilsera, not Ferengraal. That's easily three weeks away."

"That's because apparently Rivera was first summoned into Ferengraal over a month ago."

You raise an eyebrow at that. "How? You can't sustain a demon in the mortal world that long."

"Not continuously, no, but you can if you have someone renewing the summon."

You groan again. "So she has someone still in Ferengraal who has been constantly summoning her every few days, while Weber got out of the city." Where does the cabal find all these demonologists willing to do amazingly stupid, stupidly dangerous, and amazingly dangerous things?

"That's the rumor," Remeer says cheerfully.

Putting aside your frustration for a moment, you try to get a little more out of Remeer before he departs. "Any idea what she's doing in Ferengraal? What's her plan?"

The demon shrugs. "Who knows what lurks in the minds of the eighth circle?" He waves a taloned hand dismissively. "Whatever it is, it's probably so convoluted that she doesn't even understand it herself. That's who she's fighting against, after all."

A few seconds pass in silence. When Remeer realizes you're not going to ask any more questions, his body shimmers and ripples slightly, then vanishes from sight entirely.

"Remember-" you start.

Remeer's voice from thin air halfway to the door interrupts you. "Nothing that can be traced back to you, get away from the lodge first, stay away from the lodge, focus on the mayor, no deaths, no permanent injuries, property damage only for the rich, and back to Hell at dawn." He rattles off the rules like a child to a worried parent. "I know." Then, much more gently, he says, "Goodnight, Marcus."

"Goodnight Remeer."

The summoning circle and all other signs that you were engaging in heresy ripple and vanish. The door to your room opens, then a few seconds later it shuts again, and the circle and the rest of your kit reappear.

I'm going to call it a night here. We'll resume Monday with summoning Vedek. I'm going to try to start a little earlier this time, though I'm not entirely sure when that will be. Hopefully somewhere around 3pm EST, noon PST.

Man, that cabal is going from taking stupid ridks to totally retarded really fast, I hope we can save some of it's members from the recklessness of their masters Weber and Hart. And here was I thinking that Weber was the cool headed one that we could actually come to an agreement with. Maybe it wasn't him that summoned, there's certanly inumerous ways to fake someone's identity and the 8th circle might not even care

>>2691677Ifor I understood it right, the cabal is taking risks but the crazy one is weber, he was responsible for the 8th demonButhe regardless both have to be dealt wIthe fast, weber may take priority

>>2691917I thought Weber was sane because Julia said he was against the mirror plan. And not wanting to deal with the 9th circle is a sign of sanity in my book. But if he is really dealing with the 8th circle he is just as crazy as mirror boy Hart

>>2692647If we wanted that sort of thing we wouldn’t have gone for Remeer. Besides, Markus generally seems the type to avoid fights unless they’re absolutely necessary. Now, as far as items go, I’d be tempted to just go full bling and get a ring for each finger, then see if we’d have enough to make that pendant or squeak out a pair of the sleight of hand gloves. The mask and cloak seems kind of useful, but we can sneak around normally to fairly good effect, and we know a flesh shaper demon so the mask may be unnecessary. The bracer sounds exceedingly useful, but I imagine the effect length is really short, even if it wasn’t specified by Remeer, and blowing all the silver on one item sounds like a bad idea. Besides, a big silver bracer would be far more conspicuous then a number of different trinkets.

>>2691311Hm, I wonder if the effects are tied to a specific form, or if we can technically enchant anything to be anything? Like can we get the perfume pendant effect on a ring, or the salvager’s ring effect on a pendant?

>>2692892Like I said here, >>2690720 I think the illusory items are pretty valuable, but if possible, it'd be good to get something more defensive in nature. Illusions fit Marcus' sneaky occupation, but it'd be good to have outright protection over simple avoidance. You're right, though, attacks don't make sense, he's not an offensive-styled character. We need to go like, an Arcane Trickster build.

>>2691316DMQM, can you make a pastebin for known demons and current equipment?

also since Remeer seems to like playing around in the mortal plane, doesnt that mean that his lifespan will be much longer than most other demons? he must lose quite a bit of power fooling around and using his powers without compensation after all, unless he's out there draining livestock for blood to keep him even. If sorcery is possible to learn, does that mean there are species that have brains which naturally produce specific supernatural effects to aid them in survival? it would make sense evolutionarily for atleast some species to develop a brain that instinctively produces an arcane shield or unleashes a lightningbolt after all, if its possible in the first place

Your body feels heavier as you finish up the summoning circle, crying out for sleep after a long day, but you press onward. You just need to have a chat with Vedek and then you'll be able to call it a night. The relatively small demon forms quickly after you call him, appearing with a sly smile on his face that part of you thinks you should be worried about.

"Hello, Vedek," you say, outwardly returning his smile while inwardly your mind tries to figure out why he might be smiling.

"Good to see you again, Marcus." His smile broadens into a grin. "Oh, and congratulations."

Puzzled, you ask, "For what?"

"On getting married." Vedek tries to hold in a laugh as you let out a frustrated groan, but after a few seconds he fails. In between his chuckling he manages to say, "Tethis told me about it. I know you work quickly, but it's only been two weeks. That's impressive, even for you."

"That was just to get past those guards," you say, rubbing the bridge of your nose. You are far too tired for this, but you suppose it was inevitable. You're just glad Setra isn't here, she'd almost certainly have a field day with it.

"Right." He feigns a more serious tone, but you can tell from his face that he's not done enjoying himself. "And I'm sure your choice of cover stories had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Hannah's a pretty girl who lived an ordinary life in an ordinary village until you came and whisked her off her feet, to whom you can show the world and all its wonders. And definitely nothing to do with how much you enjoy cozying up with her."

"How-" you start, then stop. Sighing, you ask, "Tethis again?"

Vedek nods. "The only thing faster than Tethis is his mouth."

You sink down onto the bed, defeated. "Well, aside from the fact that I'm a glutton for punishment, I summoned you to ask about this." You hold up the bar of Hell-forged silver.

Vedek leans forward and squints at the silver bar. "That some of the Hell-forged silver from the whole Rathburg mess?" Part of you thinks you detect a hint of worry in his voice, though you could just be imagining it in your tired state. "How'd you get roped into all that?"

"I helped resolve the dispute and one of the merfolk chiefs gave this to me as a reward. Any thoughts on what you could make with this?"

Vedek rubs his chin in thought. "Well, I can make items that can either enhance you personally or allow you to enhance other things. For personal items, there's a split between temporary and constant, and then there's a choice of what exactly do you want improved. You can mix and match to create all kinds of combinations. For enhancing others, it's a more traditional setup of various items with specialty effects."

"For personal effects, you can choose between temporary boosts and constant ones that will last as long as you wear the item, plus a little bit of unravelling time after you remove it. The temporary effects are very powerful in the short run, so they're better in a pinch, but they only have about twenty minutes of active time in them, and they need eight minutes of inactivity to refresh a single minute of active time. The constant boosts are a bit less than half as strong, but they're always up. For the boosts themselves, you've got regeneration, toughness, reflexes, and strength to choose from. The more Hell-forged silver you're willing to spend on an item, the more powerful the effect."

"Interesting," you say idly. "What about the other items?"

"There are some big items for enhancing others, like the trollkin bracer. It can make any living thing you touch much more robust for several days. If you stay in prolonged physical contact, you can brute force heal someone with it too, though it hurts like nothing else. That'd take about five ounces of Hell-forged silver. Then there's the plague doctor's brooch, which would take three ounces. It makes everyone in the general area more resistant to disease and more likely to survive if they come down with something. The bamboo medallion can be activated to cause plants in the surrounding area to suddenly start growing extremely quickly and aggressively. Leave it active for long enough and even dead wood will start to respond. That'd take two ounces."

Recalling how Sovaron rushed you on the beach the other night, you ask, "Do you have anything that could be used to attack someone directly?"

Vedek nods. "The cancer torc. It lets you force certain parts of people you touch to grow in unhelpful ways, immobilizing or even killing them. Its effects wear off after a few hours and the overgrown parts will return to normal. Of course, if the person is already dead by then, they'll still be dead. That'll take three ounces."

After a moment he adds, "I should also mention there are some minor trinkets that take half an ounce each, probably the most useful of which would be the sanguine ring. It just helps your body replace blood faster, so a pint would only take two or three days to replace instead of a month. Most of the regeneration items can do something similar, but if all you're looking for is a way to replace blood, it's the most efficient option."

> Ask more about the personal enhancements. (Specify)> Ask about a specific item. (Specify)> Ask about more minor trinkets. (Specify subject area)> Ask about getting in touch with a demon with more offensive abilities.> Ask about rumors circulating in Hell.> Write-in.

"After some of the things that have happened here in Rathburg," you say, "I'm thinking I might need a demon that can make more offensively oriented items. Do you know one that might be decently trustworthy?"

Vedek contemplates that for a moment before responding somewhat hesitantly. "Well, I can think of two demons with the power to craft items who have good domains for that. They're... well, they can be trusted to deal with you without killing you, as long as you can deal with their respective quirks."

"I've dealt with Karkordon, so I'm familiar with have to tiptoe around a demon that insists on a certain sort of treatment."

"Right, they're similar in that regard," Vedek says, nodding slowly. "The first is Zeratna. She's a third circle of flame, capable of causing objects to spontaneously combust. Coaxing the flame out, she calls it. She's ironically a very cold demon." He pauses and rubs the back of his neck. "I might or might not have been reluctant to introduce you to her because I was worried that you might try to bed her. She doesn't react well to that."

"Vedek," you say with an exasperated sigh.

The demon holds up his hands in protest. "Hey, I'm just trying to make sure that you don't get hurt too badly. Zeratna can be trusted to honor her bargains as long as you don't anger her, the problem is that she is quick to anger and it's hard to tell when that's happening. If you do summon her, don't keep her around for long or else you might risk doing something that gets under her skin without realizing it. Keep it professional and be succinct, then you might be able to deal with her.

You nod. "And the second?"

"Grakeros, a third circle of earth. He can move rock at very high speeds, faster than sound in some cases. He can be tough to deal with for a lot of the same reasons as Karkordon. He's arrogant, and insists on being treated like a very small god." Vedek pauses, cocks his head to the side, and looks up in thought. "Also speaks in the third person for some reason." He turns his gaze back to you and quickly adds, "Don't bring that up, though, he'll kill you if you do."

"Can you mark out their symbols?"

"Sure, just hand me a piece of wood."

You hand Vedek a chunk of wood that you use to make tokens and carve figurines. He waves his hand over it and a series of ridges rise up in its surface, forming the names and symbols of the two demons.

"There we go," he says, setting the piece of wood right at the edge of the summoning circle. "The two of them have only a very limited range of powers that they can use in crafting items, but what they can do is very direct and quite deadly." This time there's no doubt about it, Vedek actually does look and sound worried. "Just be careful if you decide to deal with them, okay? They're definitely not as friendly as most of the demons you usually summon."

You give him a smile to try to reassure him and nod. "I'll keep that in mind." You're nearing the end of your endurance for today, but there's one more topic that you'd like to discuss with Vedek. "I've also been trying to figure out more about the cabal that you mentioned back in San Laurent," you say.

"Yes, something about one of their members going rogue and helping to summon her. You know about the deal with Lukas Weber?"

You nod again. "I heard some things about him from Remeer and Telemok, a demon I picked up since we last talked."

"Telemok?" Vedek asks, slightly taken aback. Several expressions seem to fight for control on the demon's face. Eventually friendly concern seems to win out. "Be careful around him."

"I know he's cagey," you say, "but so far he's been reliable."

Vedek thinks that over for a few seconds before responding hesitantly. "Alright, but you should know that he has an unusually large presence in Hell for a fourth circle demon. I suspect he has a patron in one of the higher circles, and he's greatly benefited from that in terms of contacts."

"Noted. Any word on the amulet?"

"Not specifically," Vedek says, shaking his head. "But I did hear that the cabal just recently clashed with the church expedition that's looking for it. Seems that the two are squabbling over some of the leads that were unearthed in Geldor."

"What happened?"

"Records discovered under Geldor hinted at the final owner of the amulet before the outbreak of the Great War. That part became known to both the church and the cabal before the church realized what they had found and seized everything from the dig. But the dig also found something else, something the church was able to get a hold of and keep quiet. The cabal tried to take it, but they failed. There's a Saint running the church expedition, and he was able to fight off the cabal's force."

You ponder that for a moment. An Ephesian Saint, one of an elite few empowered by the church with supernatural strength, speed, durability, and magic to rival the exalted of the small gods. Running into one of them would definitely complicate matters. "He's still in Geldor?" you ask.

>>2700201>>2700522I've spent that last few hours staring at a screen and completely failing to writing anything. I'm sorry, this thread has just not been going well. I'll try to pick up things up on Wednesday.

So, what are we getting, boys? I think some sort of regen is a must. At least a sanguine ring, but a passive or active could be good, too. Probably some ranged blaster caster item. And then maybe something like a strength, toughness and reflexes for Ibraham to make him a supersoldier. I also like the invis cloak or the sleight glove. Especially the sleight glove. I think we need more silver, guys. Let's ask our demons about getting more silver.

"About the sanguine ring," you ask. "Do the benefits from having more than one add together?"

Vedek shakes his head. "No, having two gives you the same effect as having one. But having a regeneration item as well does improve the end result a bit."

You rub your chin in thought, pondering your options, but you catch your eyes starting to slide closed and decide that it's probably wise to call it a night. "I think that will be all for tonight," you say. "I'll acquire the sacrifice tomorrow and summon you again when I'm ready to begin."

"Happy to help," Vedek says with a smile.

"Goodnight, Vedek."

"Goodnight, Marcus." With that, the demon melts away into smoke and disappears.

After cleaning up the summoning circle, you collapse into your bed and quickly fall asleep.

The next morning, you and Ibrahim wake Hannah, and together the three of you bring the wagon out of the stables at Warwick's Lodge. After the losses from the hectic morning when the merfolk delivered their ultimatum and a day of selling since then, it's largely emptied out. Some items remain, but those that do are relatively small. Hannah mentions to you that she was reluctant to try to sell the jewelry on her own, fearing that she wouldn't be able to get as good a price on them as you.

As you all climb up onto the wagon, Hannah asks, "Are we going to the market?"

"Yes," you reply, "but not to sell. Not today at least. We're going there to buy. Helping to resolve the whole problem with the merfolk got us quite a bit of coin, both from the merfolk and from Mayor Hoffman."

Hannah raises an eyebrow. "Really? The Mayor didn't seem like the generous sort."

You let out a mirthless chuckle. "No, he isn't, but he was willing to pay for certain things that would let him claim credit for saving the town."

"And you let him do that?" she asks. "You don't have an issue with that slimy man taking credit for something you did?"

> While I'd like it if I could, I can't exactly afford to draw that much attention.> Got paid, that's good enough for me.> Write-in.

You sigh and shrug in response. "While I'd like it if I could," you say, "I can't exactly afford to draw that much attention." Meanwhile, Ibrahim cracks the reins and the wagon starts moving up toward the market square.

Hannah frowns. "But still, it's not fair," she says. "You're the one who did the work, you're the one who took the risks. The Mayor just sat back and did nothing while this all played out."

You nod slowly. "True, but sadly that's the way it will have to be for now. If my part in resolving all this became known, people might start asking question about how a 'simple traveling merchant' could have convinced an army of merfolk and demons to leave Rathburg in peace." You grimace and idly rub the undersides of your arms. "Questions that could end up getting me in serious trouble with the church."

"The church," she says with a hint of bitterness, "whose inquisitor just left the people here to their fate."

You shiver slightly. You glance over at Hannah, but she doesn't seem to have noticed, instead looking over at some of the shops that line the narrow streets as you wind your way through the town. "There wasn't much he could do," you say eventually. "Regular humans against demons, even first circle demons? Those are bad odds. And with the merfolk able to just sit in the bay and summon the demons again, it becomes virtually impossible without the Saints. You just can't fight the merfolk underwater, not without powerful magic on your side."

"He could have at least tried talking to them," Hannah says, turning to you. "Maybe he could have found the silver they wanted and returned it to them? That would have saved the town."

"Not his job," you say. You shake your head, as much to try to keep memories away as to reply to Hannah. "Inquisitors aren't in the business of saving lives. They think they're here to save souls by keeping everyone on the 'right path,' following proper church doctrine."

"So he walks away and leaves a town to die, while the person who actually saved the people there has to hide to avoid being killed." As she speaks, her voice becomes a touch exasperated. "That's not right."

You can't help but smile at Hannah's innocent indignation on your behalf. "No, it isn't," you say. You look up at the sky, and channel of blue crowded on both sides by the upper stories of buildings jutting out over the street. "The Ephesians think that whatever happens is just because God is power, wisdom, and goodness all at once." You shake your head again. "But Solace wasn't really all-powerful. He was mighty, but even He had His limits. In truth, if we want the world to be just, we have to work to make it that way. It isn't going to do that on its own." You turn back to Hannah and give her a weak smile. "So we do what we can, to try to make this world a little bit better, and maybe some day we'll be thanked for it. But not today."

Your smile turns more genuine as it morphs into a sly grin. "Besides," you say, "I have a little surprise in store for Mayor Hoffman. He may be able to bask in undeserved praise for now, but he'll be in hot water soon enough. He'll be getting credit for something he really did do."

Hannah looks a little perplexed at first, but after a moment she smiles in return. This one is a bit more nefarious than you're used to seeing on her face, but it's a beautiful sight nonetheless.

You excursion in the market goes remarkably well. Two vendors in particular prove to be excellent sources of cheap sacrifice. One seems to be an older man selling carvings made of driftwood, many of them quite impressive given the price. The second is a smith who seems to be skilled in making decorative ornaments of bronze, copper, tin, brass, lead, and other metals. You're able to scoop up a substantial amount of art for sacrifice for a total of 6 gold Karens and 5 silver Trents.

While you're looking around at the market, you spot Sovaron's head sitting atop a pike near the entrance to the town hall, overlooking the market.

The smith, Connor, speaks up when he notices where you are looking. "Admiring the Mayor's new trophy?" he asks.

"I think I saw that merfolk the other day," you say idly. "When they came up here and wrecked the market."

Connor shrugs. "They all look the same to me, but supposedly that one was the fish in charge. The Mayor says the merfolk gave him that head when he drove them away." He manages to keep a straight face for a few seconds after saying that before he breaks out laughing.

You raise an eyebrow at the large, heavily built man. "Do you believe that?"

"Ha! Not for a minute. Whatever got those fish fuckers to leave us alone, it sure as Hell didn't have anything to do with our craven shit of a mayor. If he actually 'drove them away,' I'll eat my boots. There are some rumors floating around about what really happened, but no one who knows a thing about the Mayor believes it was his doing."

> Ask about the rumors. What does he think about why the merfolk relented?> Move on. Head back to Warwick's Lodge with your newly acquired sacrifice and get to work on crafting an item. (Specify demon to summon).> Stop by the church to speak with the town priest. You can give him the letters implicating Hoffman now, or simply sound him out.> You told Helga that you would recover her husband's body from the catacombs. You can acquire a coffin in the market and head down to retrieve it with Ibrahim.> Write in.

>>2704755>Ask about the rumors. What does he think about why the merfolk relented?>>You told Helga that you would recover her husband's body from the catacombs. You can acquire a coffin in the market and head down to retrieve it with Ibrahim.

>>2704781> just a side note. I think you could have put the rumor thing as a yes no option and then ask us what we would do after itYeah, you're right. Now that I think about it, that would have been a better idea.

It takes some effort, but you manage to conceal your smile behind a look of curiosity. It brings you no small amount of satisfaction to hear that the people of Rathburg aren't about to believe that the Mayor was responsible for defusing the crisis. "It does seem strange that the merfolk would make a mess, threaten the whole town with destruction, and then suddenly back off," you say, feigning a perplexed tone. "You have any thoughts about why that might have happened?"

"Well, I've heard a few people speculate that it had something to do with that inquisitor who came through a bit more than a week ago," Connor replies. "Some folks think that he didn't really leave, that he secretly doubled back after pretending to leave town, and that he did something to get the merfolk to back down."

"You don't sound convinced."

He shakes his head. "I mean, it's more believable than the Mayor fixing things, but it just doesn't make sense to me. If it was the inquisitor, why keep it a secret? Normally the church loves to be able to tell people when it's helping out." He pauses, thinking for a moment, then adds, "I also heard that Father Jansen and the Inquisitor had a pretty fierce argument the day he left. If the Inquisitor was going to help, why would Jansen be angry with him? He's always cared a lot about Rathburg and the folks here."

"But if not the Inquisitor, then who?"

Connor shrugs. "Adventurers, maybe?" Then he stops to think again. "Though I haven't heard of any in town recently," he says idly, "and certainly none capable of threatening an army of merfolk their demons."

"And with the Grand Mission..."

He nods. "They probably would have gone south too, right."

"What about a sorcerer?" you suggest.

The man's face scrunches up a bit as he ponders that, before hesitantly saying, "Could be. That might be enough to get the merfolk to back down." Then he shakes his head, dismissing the idea. "But what would one of them be doing out here? They cost a fortune to hire, and I can't imagine the Mayor parting with that kind of money to save us."

Eventually, Connor says, "I suppose if I had to put money on it, I'd go with something I heard from ol' Victor down at the docks. He seems to think there was some kind of betrayal among the merfolk themselves, broke up their armies and sent them all home in disgust. I don't claim to know much about fish politics, but if they're anything like our nobles, there's probably no shortage of fish just waiting to stab the lead fish in the back."

"It would explain the head," you say with a nod. "Maybe he got overthrown."

"Right."

"Well, thank you Connor, it's been a pleasure doing business with you."

"Likewise," he says with a smile and a wave. "Take care."

You turn and head toward to the wagon, placing the last of the ornaments that you bought from Connor in the back and climbing up into the wagon.

You nod to Ibrahim, who cracks the reins and gets the wagon moving again. You wait until you've moved enough that you think no one will be listening.

"While I was down in the catacombs beneath the town looking for the thief and the silver, I came across a man named David." You sigh as you recall walking away from him, leaving him alone in the dark and miserable tunnels to be killed by a demon that you knew was prowling around down there. "He died shortly after I found him, but before he did he asked me to speak with his wife, Helga, and tell her what happened to him."

As you speak, Hannah's expression turns from puzzled to sad, though thankfully she doesn't ask for specifics.

"I did that yesterday," you say, "and she asked me if I could recover David's body so that he could be laid to rest properly. I agreed, so we need to get a coffin, head down into the catacombs, and bring the body back to Helga."

Acquiring a coffin proves to be much easier than you expected. Apparently someone had several made for the bodies of those killed by the demons in the market, and the carpenter had the foresight to make several extras in anticipation of a larger bodycount following the merfolk's ultimatum. You're able to purchase one for four silver Trents with no questions asked. You direct Ibrahim to the old, abandoned shop that you and Karkordon had entered the catacombs through the day before last. From there, you should be able to find your way to where you left David's body.

When you arrive, you turn to Hannah and say, "Ibrahim and I will go down into the catacombs to get David's body. You should..."

> Wait here with the wagon. We'll be back soon.> Head back to Warwick's lodge, it'll be safer there than sitting up here with a loaded wagon. Ibrahim and I can bring the coffin to Helga ourselves.> Write-in.

>>2704895>> Head back to Warwick's lodge, it'll be safer there than sitting up here with a loaded wagon. Ibrahim and I can bring the coffin to Helga ourselves.Don't forget what happened the last time we left Hannah without us. not leaving a woman out by herself is common sense.

"Head back to Warwick's lodge," you tell Hannah. "It'll be safer there than sitting up here with a loaded wagon. Ibrahim and I can bring the coffin to Helga ourselves."

She nods and takes Ibrahim's place at the front of the wagon. You and Ibrahim take the coffin and a pair of lanterns from the back, then wave Hannah goodbye as she sets off back toward the lodge.

You don't relish delving into the catacombs again, but you press onward anyway. You and Ibrahim maneuver the coffin into the tunnels relatively easily. Empty as it is, it doesn't weigh much at the moment. Retracing the path you and Karkordon took to David's makeshift camp, you find that the past two days in this miserable place have already begun to take their toll on his body. His face is practically unrecognizable, with only his scraggly beard to confirm that it is, in fact, him.

The demon that killed him also drained his body of blood, which has helped slightly in preserving it, but only slightly. In the intervening time, rats have already started gnawing on David's body, chewing through his clothing and into his rotting flesh. They scatter when you approach, though a few need to be prodded into abandoning their hiding place underneath David's dried skin. The smell, while not the worst thing you've ever experienced, is still awful.

Once you've cleared away the vermin, you and Ibrahim place the body inside the coffin and head back to the surface. The journey back is significantly more difficult for you, though Ibrahim appears unfazed by the increased weight. Emerging out onto the surface, you start the mercifully short trip over to Helga's shop. Most people pay you no mind, though along the way you are approached by one man.

"What's all this?" he asks, looking at the coffin you and Ibrahim are carrying.

"A body found after the mess in the market," you reply. "Probably killed by one of the merfolk's demons."

He leans over the coffin, and you can see the moment when the smell leaking out of the wooden box hits him. "Right," he says, recoiling slightly. "Carry on."

You arrive at Helga's shop and set the coffin down outside the door, then enter while Ibrahim waits outside. The bell above the door rings, causing Helga to look up from the table where she is working on repairing a pair of boots.

"Helga?"

"You're back," she says simply. "You... did you bring his-" she pauses and swallows hard before finishing. "His body?"

Helga gets up and walks out of the shop with you following close behind her. She hesitates at first when she sees the coffin, but then slowly approaches it, knelling down beside it and reaching for the lid that you and Ibrahim left loose.

"You might not want to do that," you say. Helga looks over at you, a pained look on her face, and after a moment you explain, "It might be better to remember him as he was."

She purses her lips, then looks back down at the coffin lid. "I need to," she says softly. "To know that I'm laying him to rest."

Helga lifts the coffin lid and slides it to the side to reveal the gnawed, dessicated body of her husband. She lets out a weak choking sound when she sees the state he is in, and a dry sob wracks her body. She slides the lid back into place and sinks down onto the front step of her shop. She sits there for a while, wrapping her arms around her legs and bringing them close to her body, pressing her face against her skirt to hide her tears.

After a few minutes, Helga sits up and does her best to dry her face with a sleeve. "Thank you," she says quietly, looking up at you with reddened eyes. "For bringing him back to me."

You shift awkwardly. "I'm sorry I couldn't have done more," is all you can manage in response.

She turns back toward the coffin. "I'll need to talk with Father Jansen about laying him to rest," Helga says as she stares vacantly at it.

"We can bring him inside for now, if you'd like."

She nods. "Please."

You and Ibrahim quietly bring the coffin into the shop. Helga clears a place on the large table and the two of you set it there. As you're turning to leave, Helga seems to realize something.

"I never even asked your name," she says.

"Marcus," you reply.

Helga smiles weakly, without a drop of joy behind it. More tears start to gather in her eyes, threatening to fall again. "Thank you, Marcus."

You try to return the smile, but for once your face just can't manage it. "Farewell, Helga," you say.

With that, you turn and leave the shop. You and Ibrahim walk back to the lodge in silence. You try to focus on the town around you, but all you can think of is David hesitating to leave the fire at his camp, reaching out and asking you to speak with his wife, just before you rounded the corner and left him to die.

Arriving back at the lodge, you're eager to get to work crafting something with the Hell-forged silver, if only to take your mind off of what you might have done differently.

For reference, here is an overview of items that you've been informed of:

Remeer- Doppelkin Bracer (6 ounces). Creates an illusionary duplicate of you or a person you touch, commanded telepathically.- Mimic's Mask (5 ounces). Appear and sound like another person you have seen for several minutes at a time.- Invisibility Cloak (4 ounces). Exactly what it sounds like.- Phobos Medallion (3 ounces). Create illusions of the greatest fears of a target you can see.- Sleight Glove (2 ounces). Create illusions in the palm of your hand, render a object you are holding invisible, or produce (blinding) light.- Forger's Ring (1/2 ounce). Causes a paper or parchment you touch to appear to be a document of your choice for a day.- Lotus Ring (1/2 ounce). Temporarily traps a person you touch in a pleasant illusionary world.- Perfume Brooch (1/2 ounce). Conceals foul odors in the general area.- Salvager's Ring (1/2 ounce). Make an item you touch appear as it did in the past for an hour.- Silken Pendant (1/2 ounce). An object you touch takes on the apparent weight, malleability, and texture of a material of your choice for a day.

Vedek- Personal Boost Items (variable cost). Increase personal strength, speed, durability, or regeneration either temporarily or constantly. Temporary duration doubles the power of the effect, but has only 20 minutes of active time and needs 8 minutes of inactivity to recharge 1 minute of active time. Constant boosts are active as long as you wear the item, and for a short time afterward, but are only half as powerful. Power varies based on amount of Hell-forged silver expended.- Trollkin Bracer (5 ounces). Make living things you touch more robust for several days. Prolonged contact heals. - Plague Doctor's Brooch (3 ounces). Make living things in the general area more resistant to disease.- Cancer Torc (3 ounces). Force parts of a living thing you touch to grow, immobilizing or killing. Effect subsides after a few hours, but dead targets remain dead.- Bamboo Medallion (2 ounces). When activated causes plants in the area to grow very quickly. Prolonged activation causes dead wood to regenerate. - Sanguine Ring (1/2 ounce). Replace a pint of lost blood in two to three days. Does not stack with other Sanguine Rings, but does stack with personal regeneration boosts.

Also mentioned:- Zeratna, demon of flame. Can cause things to burst into flames.- Grakeros, demon of earth. Can move stone extremely quickly.

>>27052052 sanguine rings (1 oz)One for us, one for Hannah, since these can help our little 'married' ploy, and will be useful if she needs to do the summoning herself.

>Personal boost (2 oz) (regeneration)>Salvager's Ring (1/2 oz)Guys, if we find any ruined papers that hold important info, we can see what was once on it in the past. This will be super useful on paintings and ruined rare books.>Bamboo Medallion (2 oz)Emergency food or getting some difficult to grow foliage that can sell.

>>2705729we dont need the regen or bamboo medallion really. I'd rather give Ibraham a sanguine ring as well in case of injury. He'll recover much faster if his body doesnt have to focus on replacing blood.

For the personal boost i believe that letting Ibrahim choose an attribute to boos is better as well, since he is our protection against unexpected dangers we dont have time to summon demons for. We'll wait for the other demons to tell us what they have to offer before deciding though

>>2705729We need to conserve our silver, if Hannah needs the ring we can loan it.

>>2705205- Sanguine Ring (1/2 ounce). Replace a pint of lost blood in two to three days. Does not stack with other Sanguine Rings, but does stack with personal regeneration boosts.>inquire the cost of a Permanent Regen object

Picture this, lads>Acquire Trollkin bracer>Decorate cart with some advertisement about our cure-all tonic>Sell to people, making sure to get into the crowd and touch them>Put a hand on some of the guys who need some proper healing juice and keep it there while we explain the tonic>ProfitIf we REALLY wanna go nuts here we can even get the silken pendant and make the tonic look all mystical and crazy. Y'know, if the QM decides liquid counts as an object

>>2706286>>2706269Maybe tone down all the flash, but a little healing is always nice. If the right people get curious, people like Hannah, we might be able to get our message out a little bit. I'm not saying explain demons to anyone who asks "why did your weird water fix my gangrenous left leg" but I'm sure we could sow the seeds of doubt, as we're want to do.

>>2705696I might or might not have kind of sort of fallen asleep in the middle of writing. Making the Sanguine Ring will happen Friday.

As an apology, have a map of Torien that I totally didn't promise to have done a week ago. You are currently at the southern end of Rathera Bay, at the mouth of the western of the two major rivers feeding into it. The Ephesian Church's influence extends across pretty much all the territory between the Borel Sea, the Sarkan Sea, and the Salverg Mountains, running from Normark down to the Terakor Rift.

>>2706516Sanctus is the area that the church controls directly. The mouth of the major river just north of the Sanctus label is where the city of Varena is located, which is the center of the church's power.

>>2706612This version? Not very long, it's actually fairly simple once you start on it. The problem is that I spent a bunch of time on a half dozen previous versions trying and failing to make decent looking mountains before finally just throwing up my hands and using the smudge tool aggressively. That turned out surprisingly well, I think.

>>2706561I kind of cheated with a bunch of the names, many of them are corruptions of real words. Normark, for example, is the northern border march of Torien. Mark is the german way of naming border marches, so it's just called Normark (there was a real world place called Nordmark in the Holy Roman Empire that was named for exactly that reason). Similarly, Ostlan is called that because ost means east and it's the land east of the rest of Torien. Again, there's a real place in Norway called Ostlandet which means east land. Bened is just bene (Italian for good) with a D add on to make it sound like end, as in it's the end of the good lands because for a while it was the southern most territory of the Ephesian church. Borel is a corruption of borealis, which is latin for north.

Other names are even more blatantly stolen. Sattel is german for saddle, which is the name for that particular geographic shape. A low point along a ridge between two peaks is called a saddle point. Sanctus is literally just the latin word for holy.

With some of the other places, I was thinking of what were common sounds in the local language. The Shar, for example, use a lot of sh and ak and ar sounds, so many of their place names use that. Masharak itself is also a corruption of the word mashriq, which is an old word for the fertile crescent or levant region, referring to the sunrise.

Dvergan and Argashk are what I was thinking the dwarves and the orcs would call themselves and their homelands. "Dwarves" and "orcs" is just what people who can't be assed to pronounce things correctly call the Dvers and Argks. The dwarves also are very insistent on calling them "orcs," as part of a centuries-old argument where the dwarves claim that the orcs aren't really from Argashk and that Argashk is rightfully dwarven land. It's illegal in Dvergan to use the word "Argks."

As for the Terakor Rift, it's the last remnant of a rift valley formed by the northern and southern continents pulling apart. Almost all the rest has been filled in by the Habori and Sarkan seas, with just a little chunk of land left connecting the two continents.

>>2706776>This version? Not very long, it's actually fairly simple once you start on it. The problem is that I spent a bunch of time on a half dozen previous versions trying and failing to make decent looking mountains before finally just throwing up my hands and using the smudge tool aggressively. That turned out surprisingly well, I think. don't worry QM, Its just right.

Also having names from a geographical shape was common in the old days.

>>2706776Figuring out approximately how cities and regions would be organicslly named isnt exactly "cheating" y'know. Are there any cool regions with magical or unique features? the rift sounds like some kind if magical collateral damage for instance

You gather most of the ornaments and the carvings in your room at the lodge and set about summoning Vedek. When he appears, his eye briefly dart over to the pile of potential sacrifice and he gives you a sly smile. "I see you've been busy, Marcus"

"Yes," you say with a nod. "I think this should been enough to handle our business for today."

"You've given some thought as to what you want me to make?"

"The Sanguine Ring to start with."

"A classic choice," Vedek replies. "It's one of my best sellers."

You rub your chin in thought. The Sanguine Ring will only take half an ounce. That still leaves you with a solid seven and a half for other items. "After that," you say, "I was thinking of a regeneration enhancing item."

Vedek nods and motions to the circle in front of him. "The ring won't take much, just put two of those carvings, that brass ornament there, and the bar inside the circle. I'll handle the rest."

When you do so, Vedek sits down on the floor cross-legged and closes his eyes. He starts humming a strange tune that sounds hauntingly familiar to you, though you can't quite place it, and the two driftwood carvings crumble into dust. Most of the brass ornament does as well, but a tiny cord of brass remains behind as the metal around it falls away. The bar of Hell-forged silver trembles slightly, then a small portion of it seems to flow up into the air, snaking upward as if it were a liquid being poured. The sliver of brass floats up as well, and the snake of silver and brass cord wrap around one another, weaving together before joining into the shape of a ring.

Vedek opens his eyes and smiles, plucking the ring out of the air and holding it out to you. "One Sanguine Ring, as promised."

You kneel down and take the ring from the demon, examining it for a few seconds before trying it on. It slides on easily, though after a moment you notice it become slightly more snug. Not so tight as to cause discomfort or hinder taking it off, but just enough for you to notice the fit change.

"It can grow and shrink to fit the hand you put it on." Vedek says, then grins mischievously. "In case you'd like to give it to your latest lady friend."

You're too busy admiring his handiwork to really care about that jab though. "Thank you, Vedek," you say, turning your hand back and forth and admiring how the ring catches the afternoon light. Thankfully, the amount of Hell-forged silver in the ring is too small to produce its typical halo effect, so a cursory glance won't give it away as the work of a demon.

"It's what I do," he replies. "For the regeneration item, there are a few things to hammer out first. The amount of silver used will determine its base power, and that can be increased further by making it a temporary activation instead of constant."

"About how powerful does adding more silver make it?"

"Well, if you start with one ounce, the constant version won't really be much more than you healing unusually quickly. Making it temporary doubles the potency while it's active, but at that level you're probably better off with a constant passive effect. Two ounces will get you something much more noticeable, to the point where the active version can help close up wounds even while you're fighting. Three ounces makes the passive effect strong enough to do that, while the temporary activation will let you heal major injuries on demand. If you're going for the higher end, making it temporary becomes better, since you're focusing on making the effect more powerful right when you really need it, rather than just having it constantly running but weaker."

Choose> Passive> Active

And> 1 ounce> 2 ounces> 3 ounces

Then> Have Vedek make you another item. (Specify)> Move on, summon Remeer and have him make something. (Specify)> Try to get in touch with Zeratna. She might be limited, but a powerful offensive item could still be useful.> Write in.

Same as anon above. Actively healing a really bad wound is super conspicuous, but if it comes to that then there's no reason to just have good passive healing.

Being able to take arrows, pull them out and heal vs. taking arrows pulling them out and then having to wait to get going again. Taking it off and putting on someone else to heal a serious wound becomes a better option, too.

> Move on, summon Remeer and have him make something.>Forger's Ring>Salvager's RingBecause they seem just too useful.

Vedek nods. "It's a safe pick, but I'll need more sacrifice than I did to make the ring." He points to a group of several of the driftwood items. "The carvings there, plus about half the remaining ornaments."

You bring the items to Vedek and set them down inside the circle. When Vedek closes his eyes and starts humming again, the sacrifices crumble and vanish. A much larger glob of the Hell-forged silver splits off from the bar and floats up into the air like a strange, metallic bubble. A few scraps of wood that remained behind rise into the air as well, and the silver blob gobbles them up. Then it starts to contract, compressing itself and then stretching out in opposite directions to form a long, slender shape. It bends to form a circle, then the silver flows back to one portion, revealing the wood beneath the rest of it. The silver settles into place, sinking in until it is almost flush with the wood.

Vedek opens his eyes and holds out a hand. The new bracelet floats down into his grasp and he offers it to you. "It should fit nicely around either a wrist or an ankle," he says as you take the bracelet from him. "You can try it out now if you'd like."

You slip it around your wrist and pause, looking down at it in thought. Then you fish the knife out of your ritual kit and make a light cut upon your arm.

"To activate it," Vedek says, "focus your mind on the bracelet and envision something growing. A sapling becoming a tall and sturdy tree, or a bud blooming into a flower."

You close your eyes and try to picture a sapling, standing alone atop a grassy hill. In your mind you see its tiny branches reaching up toward the sun, stretching out and spreading a shadow across the grass as more and more leaves block the light shining down from above. The trunk swells in size, thickening to support the new canopy until a mighty tree stands before your mind's eye. You open your eyes an look down at the cut, droplets of blood sitting in a line along your skin. You wipe the blood away and search for the cut, but find nothing, not even a scar.

"You can deactivate it by doing the opposite," Vedek continues. "Focus on the bracelet, then envision the leaves of a tree falling away, or a flower wilting."

You try that, imagining the leaves turning a deep red and then blowing away, leaving only the bare branches of the tree behind. Unfortunately, you don't feel any different, so you prick yourself with the knife and watch the blood ooze from the wound for a minute. It does not heal until you envision the sapling growing into a tree again. Then, beneath the trickle of blood, you can see new flesh grow to fill in the gap in your skin, until nothing of the second cut remains. You try picturing the leaves falling from the tree again, but again you're unsure if the bracelet is still active or not.

Vedek seems to notice the disconcerted look on your face. "It might take a little bit of time to get used to having mental control over something," he says, "but you'll get the hang of it with practice. Remember, it can stay active for up to twenty minutes, and it recharges one minute of time every eight minutes. If it runs out, it will deactivate on its own and start recharging again."

You nod, still looking down at the bracelet and the decorative pattern on the silver portion. "Thank you, Vedek." After a few seconds of silence, you look over at the demon, still sitting and looking back at you with a strange look on his face. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," he says, shaking his head. "I was just thinking about how far you've come. How different you are from when we first met."

You purse your lips and your hands stop fiddling with the bracelet. You look down at the floor, and for a moment you remember when simply standing as you are now was a monumental effort. And before that, all those days and nights you lay helpless, your arms and legs lying limp and useless, good for nothing but keeping you awake with the constant pain.

You grimace and shake your head to try to banish the memory. "I prefer not to think about those days if I can. Not that I regret our meeting," you add, "it's just the particular circumstances..."

Vedek sighs softly and nods. "I understand."

The two of you remain silent for a time, the sounds you hear are people preparing supper from the common room below and a day winding down from outside. Eventually, you try to break that silence. "I think I'll be summoning Remeer next," you say. "He had a few items that sounded interesting."

Vedek chuckles slightly as he rises to his feet. "Well, if there's one thing that can be said about Remeer, it's that dealing with him is rarely dull." He smiles gently at you, then says, "Good day, Marcus. Give Ibrahim and Hannah my regards."

You look down at what remains of the bar of Hell-forged silver, sitting just inside the summoning circle. Four and a half ounces remain, a bit more than half of what you started with. Retrieving the partial bar, you carve a set of tokens with Remeer's symbols, use a small portion of your remaining sacrifice as an appetizer, and place the tokens and sacrifice in the bowl at the center of the summoning circle. After double checking the circle again, you stand back and speak the words.

Remeer materializes promptly, and greets you with a cheerful "Hello, Marcus."

"Hello, Remeer," you reply with a smile. "Enjoyed your night on the town?"

The demon chuckles. "Immensely," he says. Then he leans as close as the summoning circle allows and whispers to you behind one of his massive hands. "I'd avoid the town hall for a few days, though. I doubt anyone there will be in a good mood for some time." He briefly chuckles again, then straightens up, clears a throat that he does not have, and adopts a more business-like tone. "Had some time to think about what you want to spend that silver on?"

You nod. "Yes, I think I'll start off with a forger's ring." You motion to the pile of art that remains. "I brought some sacrifice to pay for that."

Remeer strokes his chin with a clawed hand. "That would pay for a lot more than just a forger's ring," he says. "For the ring, I'll be needing those three carvings and the four ornaments there."

You raise an eyebrow at that. "All that for a half-ounce trinket?"

"Yes," Remeer replies. Then, after a moment under your inquisitive gaze, he fidgets slightly. "Well, that, plus a little extra on the side," he adds. A few more seconds pass. "Alright, maybe more than a little extra."

You sigh and shake your head. "For a demon of illusion, you're a surprisingly bad liar. I'll give you two carvings and one ornament."

Remeer rolls his massive eye in its jaw/socket. "That wouldn't leave me with any profit at all. Two carvings, three ornaments."

"Deal." You retrieve the agreed on sacrifice and hand them to Remeer, who eagerly takes them in his talons. There, they crumble to dust and sink into his reddish skin.

You then hold out the remaining Hell-forged silver, the bar just barely crossing the threshold of the summoning circle. He scoops out a portion of the metal on a finger as if it were cake batter, then takes the glob between finger and thumb with each of his four hands and stretches it out into four thin strands. One of his slender legs clips the center, dividing the strands from one another. He then lets go of two of them, leaving them hanging in the air as one by one he begins braiding the silver threads together. Finally, once all four threads have been woven into a single cord, he joins them together in a circle.

He stares for a moment at the new ring, his jaw sliding closed as his eye narrows. When it's only just barely open, a light shines forth from his pupil slit and strikes the ring. Remeer holds his gaze on it for about half a minute before relaxing. The light subsides, and he offers out the ring to you.

"There we are," he says proudly. "A Forger's Ring."

You take the ring and slip it on, then look around for something to test it on. Aside from the writ from the Mayor permitting you to sell your wares in Rathburg, you find a the scraps of parchment that you got in San Laurent.

"Just envision the document that you wish for it to resemble," Remeer says. "It's easiest if you've actually seen an example before."

You concentrate for a moment, willing the parchment to become a copy of the writ. After a few seconds the scrap of parchment shimmers and writing begins to appear on it. A portion of the parchment seemingly bubbles up from the surface of the page, twisting and changing to the shape, color, and texture of the Mayor's seal.

"You can also modify the illusion as long as you're still holding it," Remeer adds.

Looking down at the apparent copy of the Mayor's writ, you imagine it as a map instead. A second of focusing later, the writing has moved and grown to take on the appearance of a map of the Salverg Foothills around San Laurent, complete with a comically wrong caricature of an elf.

"Impressive," you say.

"The illusion will stand up to virtually any scrutiny, but only at first. As time passes, the magic will start to unwind. After a few hours it will be detectable as magic to someone skilled in the art, and after a full day it will dissipate entirely."

"Good to know." You will the scrap of parchment to return to being a note from Aisha, which it does with another few seconds of shimmering. You turn back to the demon and smile. "Thank you, Remeer."

> Have Remeer make another item for you. (Specify)> Summon Zeratna to talk about making an offensive item with your remaining silver.> Spend the evening testing your new bracelet with Ibrahim. Now that you have some powerful demon magic to back you up, you might even last long enough sparring with him to actually land a hit. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not.> Head down to the local church to talk with Father Jansen. Try to get a feel for the man to see if you want to give him the letters implicating the Mayor.> That's all for today. Move on to tomorrow and some legitimate commerce.> Write in.

With four ounces of Hell-forged silver remaining, perhaps it is time to contact a demon capable of crafting more direct items. Of the two that Vedek told you about, Zeratna sounds like the more interesting demon of the pair. Vedek warned you that trying to woo her would end badly, but all that means is you just shouldn't try to woo her. How hard could that be? You've been able to handle demons that require a very professional attitude before, this will be no different.

You carve a set of tokens with the symbols that Vedek gave you and place them in a bowl along with an initial offering. You briefly consider using your own blood now that you have both a Sanguine Ring and improved regeneration, but decide to go with art just for today. It will still take the Sanguine Ring a day to do its work replenishing all the blood you paid to Telemok yesterday, and this art was fairly cheap to come by anyway. Since this is your first time summoning this particular demon, you triple check the circle to make sure that it will hold. Once that's done, you stand back and speak the words.

A few, long seconds pass in silence, with only the tiniest wisp of smoke streaming up from the bowl. You're starting to think that maybe Zeratna has refused the summons when the tokens and the offering finally do catch fire and burn away. The tendrils of smoke that waft up twist around one another in a tight spiral, constricting one another more and more until finally they all collapse in on themselves with a brilliant flash of light. That light becomes a plume of flame, which takes the shape of a naked woman.

You briefly stare at her, dumbstruck. She looks like something that stepped straight out of myth, her body combining numerous wonderful features into a single alluring package. Overall she has a slender, athletic build with long legs that, despite being made of flame, have all the signs of being both well toned and perfectly smooth. Her rear juts out invitingly as one works their way up the back of her legs, full yet also firm. Above that her waist narrows in an hourglass shape, and again the flames appear sculpted to bear subtle hints of muscle along her midriff. The entire ensemble is crowned with a pair of generous breasts that seem to defy gravity, holding their shape and remaining perked upward and forward despite their substantial size.

You blink, and finally notice that Zeratna is glaring at you.

She shifts to one side and places a hand on one of her hips, further accenting her figure's enticing curves. She regards you with a cold, annoyed look. "What do you want, human?"

Looking at her face now, you notice that the rest of her body only outclasses it by a small margin. You briefly recall seeing a magnificent bust on display in the Habori Empire that looked remarkably like her, though her features are made of flame rather than stone. At the time, you had thought that it was merely the fantasy of a perfectionist sculptor. The only difference is that atop her head is a long, blazing flame that takes the place of hair and gracefully dances back and forth as much as the summoning circle allows.

It takes a painfully long second for you to remember your manners. "Greetings, Zeratna," you say with a bow. With great effort you manage to tear your eyes off of the comely demon to look at the plain, dull floor between the two of you. "I am Marcus. I summoned you here to ask for your assistance in crafting an item of power."

The irritated expression remains fixed on Zeratna's face. "So you're Vedek's boy," she says. Unlike her hair, her icy voice does not waver in the slightest. "He said you might contact me."

"Yes," you say, hurrying to try to get to something that will make you look less like a fool. You hold up the half a bar of Hell-forged silver that you still have. I have in my possession four ounces of Hell-forged silver, and I wish to make an item with which I can defend myself. Vedek mentioned that you have a talent for that." When Zeratna does not respond, you quickly motion to the remaining driftwood carvings and metal ornaments in a desperate attempt to reassure her that you aren't a complete amateur. "I have gathered sacrifice with which to pay you for your services."

Assistance, you quickly scold yourself. You should have said assistance, services make you sound like you're soliciting a whore. Though the summoning circle prevents Zeratna from actually increasing the temperature of the room, you can feel yourself beginning to sweat.

Zeratna's gaze slowly moves over to the pile of sacrifice, then slides back to you, never once betraying a hint of emotion beyond annoyance. "I can craft something for you," she says impassively. "I could create something that will let you coax the flame out of anything that lives now or has lived in the last century. Four ounces would be enough for an item that can coax forth enough flame to quickly devouring a man whole."

You swallow hard, trying desperately not to think about how you'd like to see her devour a particular part of a man whole.

The demoness continues, "And it would give you a small measure of control over the resulting blaze. For two ounces, you could have something that coaxes out either wild flames beyond your control-"

An image flickers through your mind of Zeratna straddling your lap, wild and uncontrollable, the brilliant flames of her hair whipping about as her exquisite body rolls forward and back in a frantic dance.

>>2710298>Two ounce item, power focusedI've got a feeling that there is a wrong answer herePlus I'm partial to something bigger and flashier. If we're going to be putting ourselves in a situation where it's pretty clear we've got some otherworldly help, I want it to be effective.

>>2710303clearly we'll want the four ounce item. Being a pyromancer that can kill with a thought sounds way better than being able to cripple, mostly due to the fear factor of it. Imagine being surrounded by bandits for example. Mildly burning one of them will let the rest assume that we arent a very strong sorcerer, and they'll be much more likely to attack, while completely fucking obliterating one will send them fleeing as fast as their little bandit legs will carry them

How wonderful, the decision to get an item that can only cripple people with the most horribly painful injuries known to man, and likely be too weak to have significant effect on the truly dangerous enemies, like demons, saints, exalted. No doubt brought to us by the same voters who decided to abandon David to his death in the catacombs.

>>2710298>> Two ounce item, control focused.I have no interesting in wasting nearly all the rest into this. In fact I'm not sure why people feel like they need a weapon immediately at all when they could save what is left for a later occasion when something specific would be needed. offensive and defensive uses are the least useful since we could just summon demons to use for that purpose.

>>2711069I'm not sure why you feel like an item that can't even kill a normal human is going to cut it against the foes we're likely to run into. You complain about wasting 4 ounces on a useful item, yet you vote to waste 2 ounces on a useless item.

>>2711081I voted for wasting 2 because it's more likely to win than to wasting none.

Also, foes we run into? demons can solve that much better. As a summoner we should never be fighting at all in direct combat. The way I see it giving anons the equivalent of a gun just means they would feel over-confident and choose more risky options.

>>2711087While I do kind of agree with you, it's not realistic to believe that we'll always have a demon on hand, and anons are going to make dumb decisions no matter what, so it's better to be prepared for them. I guess I can't fault you for the vote, since I was forced to change from my 2 ounce power preference.

>>2711087When we fought against the merfolk "chief" we almost got gutted, and there wasn't a demon to save us that was ours. Can't assume we'll always have a demon with us. That shuts expensive, and It feels good to have a contigency incase shit hits the fan.>>2710298>Four ounce item.

>>2711117That was a stupid vote when people choose to not summon a demon to go with them. In hindsight, the other guy >>2711101has a point, as in anons will be stupid no matter what. At least I voted for the regen to help deal with the inevitable fuck-ups that will continue to happen in the future.

>>2711446I don't think anons had a reason, he just wasn't part of the objective at the time. I guess a gentle "character interpretation" would be that Marcus can be surprisingly callous when he's being a coward.Or maybe Marcus recognized that Karkordon didn't want to stick around too long in a place made previously for corpses which now functions as a canal for human shit and piss and decided to focus down the objective before Karky got too displeased.Or he didn't want to reveal his knowledge and warn David that hey, guess what, there's something dangerous down here so you should probably try leaving this immediate area for somewhere else.Or something.

>>2711446>>2711486My theory is that they were just really dumb. Maybe they didn't think the demon following them would bother attacking someone that wasn't its target? No one commented on it in the thread, so I think they just didn't make the connection of "hey, there's a demon following us, it might come across and kill the guy we're currently talking to."

>>2711486>>2711549From what I remember there was a demon of unknown strength "somewhere" in the catacombs, searching for hell silver. We were also searching for hell silver in the catacombs, so we had to move fast. We found a guy hiding in the catacombs who had nothing to do with hell silver. We moved away from him and he died.

>>2711592pretty much this. the risk of failing the mission and causing the death of the entire town outweighted the risk of one guy dying. Since we had no info on the demon, and how much time it would hinder us by fighting it even if we did win, we choose to push forward until we got to our goal first before anything else.

not much, the writing from the QM was pretty clear on saying that if we didn't do anything he would probably die, we could have told him to leave, brought him with us or simply scared him away, anons decided to callously leave him to die and that's what made me pissed at the moment. at least that's what I got from it

>>2711615That's why I think anons were just dumb. They didn't realize they were leaving David to die. Once they learned he died, they made a stand so the demon would be sent back to hell and couldn't kill anyone else.

>>2716406(same poster)I was thinking about a small volcano: a crack in the ground below the target spewing forth magma, semi-molten rock etc at the target. It might fit the "hellish" theme of the demons quite nicely.Maybe, if that would be to high powered, the item might require regular blood sacrifices to continue working.

>>2716455An earth/flame based attack that comes from the ground, not from the front, is probably realistically within their abilities to give and also a great back up idea to a forward fuck-you fireball.

Also would be great area control. I don't know if it'll do lava, but earth on fire will probably dissuade/hurt most normal opponents or those caught off-guard.Even if we don't buy it now it'd be good to keep in mind for the future.

>>2711609I voted to leave David then went to sleep. I was honestly surprised that a) anons voted to face unknown merfolk demon(s), while under severe time constraints, after seeing them rip several people in half, after a "brute squad" was specifically mentioned, and when an entire town was in the balance and that b) the QM didn't fire Chekhov's gun and have us wake up missing our left eye at the bottom of a pile of dead townsfolk.

>>2719310Pretty sure it only worked out because more than one of the merfolk leaders caught on to the likelihood of a scheme having already been made with Marcus by one of their own in Merfolk favor. Aside from the one gal just hinting that she knew again and again. I have a feeling a few of the other level headed murder machines caught on. Though we really wouldn't have known that ahead of time, other than through asking what our demons know.

It was, however, stupid to go alone without any actual defense. Normal equipment is no defense against demons, period. So I think people following through with that by getting the specific items that could absolve that situation is decently smart. Since Merfolk brought their demons because they're treating demons like the mutual deterrent they actually are, I really doubt they would've seen Marcus next to an adorable Tethis and be put off about it. They were obviously strategically intelligent enough to figure out we're a demonologist anyways within a day of our arrival given the report they got on us through their own demons, so it's not like it would've been showing off an unknown.

And Marcus got off with only being stabbed on a good roll. That's main character armor if I've ever seen any. I guess you could explain it by going, oh, our ally-by-advantage is right there and we've explained that the majority are getting what they came here for so of course their demons will defend us, but that doesn't make the decision to go without any less foolish.

>>2719310Overestimate is still better than underestimate when it comes to the unknown. With no further information what we did was only logical to not risk the town for one man. It could've very well ended badly if the opposition was much worse, or there was simply another one that could have ambush Marcus in the back while his summoned demon was fighting the other one. In the end some of the anons simply felt too guilty knowing they were leaving people to die for sure as soon as we left, leading them to a vote I felt was too emotionally driven compared to the normal voting group until that point. I was honestly surprised we weren't punished by that, but maybe that's because I expected more sacrifice as a theme in a demon summoning quest.

I felt confident facing that threat simply because Karkordon was said to be the strongest demon we have access to, and being a 4thcircle one he could face a lot of danger.What bothered me the most was that we simply left him there, no invitation to follow us, no pointing to the nearest exit, no warning about the danger he was in, that was incredibly callous and out of place in my opinion and Marcus consciousness is punishing heavily because of that

>>2719310> after seeing them rip several people in halfI think I didn't really do enough to communicate this, but that's not particularly special for demons. Tethis, for example, is a first circle demon, the bottom of the demonic totem pole, and he was able to kill four armed and armored men before they even knew what was happening. Demons are powerful creatures relative to humans, and even a demon that is weak among its own kind is extremely dangerous to squishy mortals. You don't need third or fourth circle demons to menace a bunch of mundane human townsfolk, a handful of first circle demons can do that just fine and they're a lot cheaper.

Marcus, by contrast, was going down into the catacombs with a fourth circle demon, and had pitched in some of his own money to make that happen. That's playing it pretty safe.

> after a "brute squad" was specifically mentionedRecall what Etordan was talking about when he said that you didn't want to meet the brute squad. He wasn't talking about power. Marcus had commented that he was being relatively friendly, and Etordan responded that he was on the search team, and those demons were chosen specifically for having a relatively light touch. When he mentioned the brute squad, he was referring to them being a bunch of brutes. Not in the powerful sense, you don't need to be powerful among demons to be a danger to a human, but in the sense that they're quick to violence and much more casual about killing. If he was inclined to, Etordan could rip a human in half too. That's not something he finds impressive or noteworthy because it just isn't noteworthy among demons in the first place. It's like beating up a starving child. It says less about actual ability and more about how much of a jackass the person is that he's willing to do it.